Dawn OF Thunder 11: Disclosure
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: The Time Has Come, the truth is out... are you ready for it?
1. Prologue

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Prologue: just after 9: Breech Of Dawn**

They would pay for this, he would see to it.

He growled, glaring evilly at the dog-eared, well read newspapers scattered across the worn, battered and decrepit desk that he was forced to use now, ever since _they _ had forced him out of the business, a disgrace to his profession. Except, he was no disgrace, he knew everything he had said was true, they had just been better at covering their arses, their illegal secrets far better then he had been at exposing them.

But damn, he had never expected them to be so _ruthless _ in keeping their little secrets. Secrets they had no right to keep, the press were the important ones here, not anyone else. Nobody had a right to hide from the press, if they tried, then it was the _duty _ of the press to prove them wrong, humiliate them in the worst possible way.

Except, he told himself angrily, it hadn't worked out that way, not this time. They had shown that it was they who had the power, not him. Well, he would have to _take _ the power back from them, it was his to hold, not any one else's. His to use, to control, to manipulate.

The sudden ringing of the phone in the damp, rat infested hole he had been forced by his sudden unemployment to call home startled the bitter, angry man and he glared at it, before reluctantly reaching forwards and grasping it. Few enough people knew the number, those that did were either his few remaining friends or the allies he had picked up, reporters who had seen the truth and had come to him, asking him to lead them to the truth.

He had accepted of course, knowing all the wile that they were using his vendetta for their own ends. Well, so be it. So long as they played their parts, he would be a tool to find the Truth'; after all, some would say that's all a reporter was. A tool in the eternal battle against secrets.

"Yes!" he growled, his tone hiding none of his bitterness.

"There's an exodus underway"

What? An exodus? What the buggering hell was Helton on about?

"Reporters, retired and active are vanishing left right and centre. Hell, they are even vanishing out of protective custody. Christ man, even Kelson has gone and there's a cool Million on his head"

"What? Where are they going? What's happening?" Despite himself, he was interested; the timing was far too close to be a coincidence

"I don't know for definite but a source gave me a description for the last person to visit Kelson, it's sketchy but it could be one of the Williams Twins. I also got word from his old boss, last thing he said on the phone was Where he was going, no-one would be able to threaten him or his family'"

The bitter, twisted man swore, fluently in three different languages.

"They're buying out reporters"

"Looks that way"

"Traitorous bastards, thinking of their families, their hides instead of the job"

Helton didn't comment, he had a ten-year old daughter, if it came to keeping her safe, he would sell out too. But then, that was the point in a way, the bitter one had had a daughter, a Pilot and she had been killed and the government always refused to tell him how, when or why it had happened, just that it had.

He had been bitter, twisted remnant of his former self ever since. The only clue that he had ever had was that somehow, RAF St Athan had been at the core of her death, it was what started his bloody and useful drive for vengeance.

"Right, I'll hook up the modem and you send me what you got okay? And pass the others the word; I want to know the last movements of everyone of the traitors"

"Understood" Helton commented, and hung up the phone.

Grunting, the bitter one reached across, hitting the power button on his laptop, booting it up ready to connect the modem and get at the new information.

This many people decamping, somebody was bound to know something or too have said something out of place that would give the game away. They always did, even reporters made mistakes like that.

And when he found that mistake, he would have them.

And the power would be where it was always destined to be, with him.


	2. One

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 1 

Distracted and weary, no-one noticed when it began. Even those who jobs were to specifically look out for such problems were busy, dealing with the fallout from the Aschen attack at Alpha Centauri, and the vicious war across the hyperbarrier in which many people had lost their lives.

It was perhaps unfortunate that the first time the RSS or SGC knew something was up was when the Red Phone on Admiral Thompson's desk rang, waking the veteran officer from where he was sleeping on a small cot hidden in one corner of the room, to hear the Prime Minister asking why Disclosure had been authorised without him being warned, or for that matter, consulted.

Admiral Thompson, having been woken from the first decent sleep he had had in weeks, wasn't exactly coherent, it didn't help. He knew Disclosure hadn't been authorised, but he was tired, irritable and worn down. His response wasn't exactly diplomatic.

"What the hell do you mean Why was Disclosure authorised?' Disclosure hasn't been authorised, you know that as well as I do"

"Don't take that tone with me Thompson, if Disclosure hasn't been authorised, what the hell is on the front of every newspaper in Britain, from the bloody Sun right through to the Daily Mail?"

"Not having seen today's issues yet, on account of having been asleep for the first time in three days, I wouldn't know would I?"

"Well then, you had better get yourself awake and check them, and call me back when you're a bit more caffeinated or I'll have your stars!"

The phone slamming down did nothing to help Thompson's already raging headache and it was a struggle to resist the urge to fall right back to sleep, but the PM had ordered and what the PM ordered, the PM got, even if he would much rather be asleep.

Besides, one of the advantages of being in Command was that if you were awake, you could make damn sure no-one else was sleeping either.

Groggily he flicked the small kettle hidden in a cupboard at the back of the room on, then reached for the phone and began waking people up.

"Well... _shit" _

Thompson grunted, and dropped a king-size box of paracetamols on the desk. He had a real feeling they were going to need them all. Joan Williams might not have been entirely awake when she got here, but like him, she certainly was now. Her tone also covered the matter perfectly.

"Do the Yanks know yet?"

Thompson shrugged, "If they don't, they sure as hell will soon enough"

"So, what's the plan?" Sarah asked.

"Well personally, I am heading towards blind panic myself"

"Not helpful boss"

Thompson grinned wryly, "No, but it's appropriate. Reporters are like vultures, they know exactly how to build up even the slightest problem into the end of the world so what they are going to do with a very real threat to the Earths existence I don't know. But, I would be surprised if they didn't know far more then they have revealed so far"

Joan nodded, exchanging a worried glance with her twin, "timed release for maximum effect?"

"Most likely"

"We need to check the comms logs for the off world reporters" Sarah said, reaching for the phone, "some of this had to come from off-world"

"Warn the base commander too, I think we need to go to a full alert, we're definitely going to get swamped here" Joan added.

"Joan, start shifting craft, if it can get out of atmosphere I want it _out. _ We get swamped and we could end up like the Russian Space yards, a smoking crater several miles wide"

Joan nodded, and reached for the second phone as a loud ringing filled the room, the red phone blaring again, this time with the button marked SGC flashing for attention.

Thompson sighed, and wearily reached for the phone, "Thompson"

_"...right now, we now for certain that the US and Britain have, in direct violation of international treaties, a number of spaceworthy warships. This has brought international outrage from almost every nation in the world, not to mention most of the religious leaders. It has become noticeable however that France and China have yet to comment at all. At the moment, Russia's involvement, and remember they were believed to have control of an Alien warship at what is now the Lena Crater, is unknown but they too are refusing to comment. This is Leonis Dexter for CBC news..."_

_"...now as you can clearly see behind me, an evacuation is underway at RAF St Athan, the bulk of the craft clearly not matching any known aircraft design. Indeed, several do not appear to have conventional Jet or Prop engines at all. They do not appear to be making any attempt at all to hide these efforts, nor are they hiding the massive numbers of soldiers patrolling the perimeter. This is John Hodges for BBC News..."_

_"fifty-seven body bags now line the tarmac at St Athan after an attempt to storm the base was put down forcibly by Soldiers of the Royal Welsh Regiment. I must warn you that some viewers may find the following scenes disturbing..."_

_"Protests in New York, London, Paris, indeed, almost every city across the planet as the world rocks with news that Britain, America and its now been confirmed that Russia too has tried to put warships into space. _

_Indeed, many people are asking the question now, what truly happened to Dauntless? We reported several months ago on the now hidden memorial whose unveiling was attended by representives from every permanent member of the UN Security Council and which a source within the RSS has confirmed was of a lost warship. Whether this ship was lost due to accident or hostile action is unknown..."_

_"Comets being destroyed before they could hit Earth or Alien warships being put down by aggressive and paranoid military commanders? _

_What do you think? Well, in the next half hour..."_

_"Critique Flash Traffic for all ships, Flag has now shifted to Ravensbright station. Sol system is now under a class one restriction, all ships requiring supplies, orders refits etc are to report to Ravensbright NOT, repeat, NOT Thundersdawn station"_

_"Martial Law declared in London, Moscow and Washington as rioters and protesters tear large portions of those cities to the ground. The damage is unestimateable, indeed, the Insurance Assessors must be weeping for all they are worth as the totals begin to climb..."_

_"Greetings to all the people of the Earth, not just of the nations of the Alliance, because what I am saying should be heard by all. Indeed, we are overriding the normal channels in several areas just so that everyone can hear what I am about to say. _

_My name is General George Hammond, and for many years I was in charge of Project Bluebook, or as it is better known, Stargate Command..." _


	3. Two

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 2 

_"Greetings to all the people of the Earth, not just of the nations of the Alliance, because what I am saying should be heard by all. Indeed, we are overriding the normal channels in several areas just so that everyone can hear what I am about to say. _

_My name is General George Hammond, and for many years I was in charge of Project Bluebook, or as it is better known, Stargate Command..." _

Hammond glanced momentarily at his notes, glad he had the heavy wood of the podium to rest them on, else he would have given away how much he was shaking. He was sure he eyes were giving away what he felt of the situation though, they thought that the General Populace was approaching readiness, that soon they would be ready to learn all the secrets of the universe but boy, had they been proven wrong.

On the other hand, they did have a lot of the press trying to destroy them, trying to paint everything in the worst possible light, and if they succeeded, earth would not last long, now without the few meagre defences the long years had enabled them to scrape together.

Damn it, he hated this, hated having to be the one to destroy everyone's dreams of a peaceful first contact, of a universe that was better then earth, that would show them the way to peace and unity. Well, unfortunately for them, the universe was even more screwed up then Earth is, even now.

And unfortunately for him, he had to explain that to everyone, that is everyone who could pick up the streaming webcast, the TV, even the radio was broadcasting his words whether the local broadcaster wanted it too or not.

_"I will begin with some background, and I must ask you to be patient as this may take some time. In 1928 on the Giza plateau, archaeologist Ernest Langford discovered an object buried under stone coverplates. The name of this object was translated as the Doorway to Heaven. _

_Its purpose unknown, it eventually ended up in America where it was stored until 1945 when an attempt is made to discover its true function. Eventually, they manage to activate the device which at then was of unknown construction, and Ernest Littleford passed through, behind him the device deactivated and believing Ernest lost, the project was closed down and hushed up. _

_In reality, he became the first American to set foot on a new world" _

Hammond grimaced, reaching for his glass of water, cursing his dry throat and the circumstances which brought this mess about. Cursing the revival of bad memories this tale he had to tell was bringing, of all the times he had thought his people lost. Of all the times they were lost, to the Goa'uld, angry natives and the thousands of other dangers that leeched his people from him, one by one.

_"Catherine Langford, the Daughter of Ernest Langford made several attempts to find funding for more research into the device but initially her attempts failed. Eventually however she succeeds and the device is moved to the lowest levels of Norad under Cheyenne Mountain. _

_It wasn't until Doctor Daniel Jackson, ostracized by his pears for his theories on the construction of the pyramids, joined the team in 1996 that the Doorway to Heaven, now more accurately translated as Stargate, was opened again" _

Hammond suppressed a slight smirk; somebody had managed to slip in a nice jab at Daniel's former comrades there, damn but he hoped they were catching this.

_"This time with one subtle difference, this time, thanks to Doctor Jackson we knew exactly how to dial out' to another planet. A controlling device had been MvGuyvered by a team headed up by Colonel Samantha Carter years before but it was the final piece of the puzzle, provided by Doctor Jackson that allowed this device to finally work" _

Hammond swallowed, and nodding at Davis, waited for the first image of the Stargate the public would ever get to see to appear on the projector at his side. There was not a hope of turning back now, even if he could. He wanted to though, this entire situation had been a mess from day one.

_"The device you see before you is the Stargate, it creates a wormhole which can connect to any of the thousands of these devices across the Galaxy allowing near instantaneous travel across the length of the Galaxy" _

Hammond glanced up and almost smiled as he saw the mixture of awed, disbelieving and just plain are you shitting me?' expressions on the reporters that filled the large auditorium to the brim. He had them, for the moment at least they would listen to every word he had to say, shocked out of any immediate response. Good, he didn't need interruptions, not for this.

_"Unfortunately, our first contact with a purely alien race was not peaceful" _

Technically true, sure they had contacted the Abydonians before Ra had appeared, but they weren't purely alien, they were human, Ra on the other hand was something else.

_"it was a representative of a race called the Goa'uld and they truly believe themselves to be Gods, that they are inherently superior to every other being in the universe and over the years they have shown that they cannot be trusted, they are utterly ruthless, to the point of killing the entire populations of inhabited worlds just because they wouldn't accept the Goa'ulds as Gods and we are at war with them" _

Hammond paused, and hoped, truly prayed to any true gods that may be out there that they Pysch boys had gotten their stuff right with this message.

_"There armies have always outnumbered us by several orders of magnitude and they are fanatical but so far we have prevailed through luck, ingenuity and through the blood of those who have fallen to keep Earth, all her peoples and all her ways of life safe. It has been close; I won't deny that, the asteroids which were destroyed several years ago for instance were a pair of Goa'uld warships sent by the System Lord Apothis to destroy us. _

_At that point we had no space going warships complete and thanks to the then Senator Kinsley, our only line of defence, Stargate Command, was in the process of being decommissioned. _

_The only reason Earth survived was because our flagship team, SG-1, consisting of the then Colonel Jack O'Neill, Captain Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, an native of a world called Chulak who has proven his loyalty a thousand times over disobeyed direct orders to infiltrate the hostile warships where they assembled and destroy them from within" _

Hammond grimaced inwardly, whilst he might like remembering the look on Kinsleys face as he was forced to backpedal over the fate of Stargate Command, he didn't like remembering how close he had came not only to losing his flagship team, but to losing Earth as well.

_"Over the years, we have made several valuable allies, the best of these being the Asgard, a race perhaps better known as the Roswell Greys" _

Hammond paused, just a beat, and then relaxed. Good, it wasn't time for the somewhat odd and quixotic humour of his favourite alien. He had little doubt that if Thor had been in the area and that if he felt it would help, he would not have hesitated to show himself to the masses at such a cue. Not yet though, please, if you have to choose today to show up, don't do it yet!

_"As well as the Rebel Jaffa and a now defunct organisation of freedom loving Goa'uld, the Tok'ra. Using seized technologies and the aid of our allies, we have made several space going warships with which to defend ourselves, unfortunately three capital ships and a number of smaller craft have been lost fighting for our freedoms. _

_In that time, we have successfully freed a number of worlds and even killed a significant proportion of the System Lords, the highest rank' of Goa'uld. Unfortunately, it means the few that are left are the most dangerous ones. _

_I hand you over to Colonel Davis who will brief you in more details on the activities of Stargate Command, he will be followed by Commodore Williams of the Royal Space Service who will brief you on their formation, thank you" _

Hammond hid a smile at Davis's glare as he headed up to the podium, guess he had finally figured out who had the job of explaining Wormhole Extreme' to the civilians.


	4. Three

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Note: One reference ahead some people may not like...

**Chapter 3**

Vengeance will be mine.

They could have avoided it, could have staved me off if only they had been honest enough to say what happened to my beautiful, innocent daughter, but no, they didn't.

They mentioned the _Dauntless, _they mentioned the war, they mentioned many many deaths, they mentioned how close they had brought the Earth to destruction but they did not mention my reason for being, and for that they will suffer my wrath.

I have to admit though, I did not expect them to react so quickly and in such a ready manner once they knew what was going on. I expected the public reaction to be worse too, but it's strangely muted in some areas, as if some had seen the signs and were expecting this. Strange, I had known that some would say told you so', some always do, but this many?

They have been preparing the population, they must have been otherwise, bad as the reactions have been, they would have been worse. For that they must have been planning on revealing all on their terms at some point, the slam down they hit us with all those months ago merely because they weren't ready for it.

That might be a problem, if they did know they couldn't hide it forever and were prepping for the revelation then they have shown uncommon intelligence for Deniable Operations types, they might have to be watched more closely.

In the mean time, I must contact a few of my allies', and have them do some research, maybe we can find something useful in their preparations, even if it is only leads to their allies outside the military. Maybe they can shake out another useful tool for me. Of course, they consider me their tool, consider me useful themselves and for now, I can live with that so long as they fulfil my needs.

But later, I will show them who is the master and who is the tool, and tools are made to be disposable after all.

Colonel Pierce was forced to admit that she had gone insane.

Of course, when you are a human from earth who never believed in Aliens as a child, scoffed at those who did who, years later, finds herself commanding a team going off world to fight aliens called Goa'uld who clamp onto the central nervous system and take control of human hosts and on your very first mission, end up as host to not just any Goa'uld but one whose power put any of the old System Lords to shame, well then maybe a little insanity was warranted.

Especially as her resident Goa'uld was more then a little certifiable himself, she had seen his dreams, knew what had been done to him by his captors of old, seen the damage the betrayal of the one whom he called sister' had done to his fragile grasp on reality. Well, fragile might not be the best word, his grasp on reality was firm; it was just skewed, very skewed.

In truth, if he was human and on Earth, and sane psychiatrist would have him sectioned in a heart beat for his blatant paranoia, his often violent swings of mood and opinions. But then, unlike the bulk of the Goa'uld, Maktenos wasn't inherently evil, in fact she had a pretty good idea both he and Enerina were more Tok'ra then any other of that rebel band. After all, many of those that she knew were alive and in all honesty, her information was way out of date, were not Egeria's children, they were a mixture of Goa'uld's who had turned against the System Lords because they believed or because they saw no way to advance in those ranks and were willing to be decalred Rebel to pursue their own interests.

Maktenos and Enerina on the other hand, at least from what she could gather from Maktenos's memories, were Egeria's spawn, the children of the founder of the Tok'ra. A woman who must be spinning in her grave at what the Tok'ra had become.

Still, Maktenos had been known as a child of Egeria's and had suffered long and tortuous years because of it, being driven insane by his captors. Enerina on the other hand had also been Egeria's child but for whatever reason, this had been missed and in an insane world she had become insane to survive, becoming a Goa'uld in manner in order to survive. Both of them had clearly hsown that some spark of goodness still rested in their souls, Enerina had turned against the Goa'uld, against the System Lords and had allied herself with the Tau'ri and Maktenos was known for looking after those that were willing to call him Master. He would ensure they were fed, housed and protected and would not kill them without reason, as was the want of most Goa'uld.

Still, that didn't help her and her sanity. She had been trapped in the prison that was her own body for too long and Maktenos was wise to her now. He knew she could regain control if he was distracted and that she had tried to hide it, he knew she had sent a number of transmissions to the Tau'ri detailing his activities and whilst he would have loved to jump hosts to a more pliable form, he couldn't. He was damaged, nearly killed by Pierson during her teams escape from his ambush all those years ago and now, she would be host to him until the end of his existence whether she wanted to or not.

She could no longer take control, if only for a moment, she could no longer whisper words into Maktenos's ears and watch gleefully as unknowing of her manipulation, he did as he was told. All she could do was see, hear and feel and oh god did she wish she could do the free monkeys act but the very nature of her imprisonment prevented that.

And every day she was helpless, she could feel this dark blackness, this pit of all things evil and hateful, the burning centre that made normal humans do things that would make any Goa'uld sick rising up in her soul. She tried to hold it back, to hold onto what remained of her precious sanity but every day it crept a little further towards the light and everyday thoughts of duty, of her oath, of her family and of Queen and Country helped a little less.

It seemed just a matter of time before she snapped and she truly feared she would become worse then her enemy, the Goa'uld. Unfortunately, her only way out was bared to her, Maktenos had too much control over her body even in his permanently weakened state.

She wondered what he would do when he noticed how far the blackness, the murky tar filled pit had risen up in her soul, for he knew most of her past and he knew what most didn't, of the secret her family had kept hidden for centuries.

That there was Demon in their bloodline.

_"Greetings, this is Damon Tillsner of the Tau'ri Armed Forces Network making the first report that will go out to the folks back home. So, to you people on Earth, glad to have you with us. _

_Behind me, the other side of this barbed wire fence with its radiation and biohazard warning signs is a crater where once there was a mine..."_

_"Within hours, hoarding began as news reached the American public, and garage forecourts filled, not just here but in Europe as well as the news broke. Its official, several Oil-providing nations had closed their borders, blocking all exports of crude oil in protest at the Western Domination of the Stargate and space, indeed, at what many in the Arab nations see a Evil Westerners bringing the Earth into an Interplanetary war. _

_Indeed, many refuse point blank to believe that the war was inevitable, that the very nature of the Goa'uld prevented peace with them..."_

_"Once again, a building burns in Waco Texas as a raid by Law Enforcement officials, this time from Homeworld Security goes wrong. Three days ago, the cultists made a threat no sane person could ignore, they stated that they had Naqudah and a nuclear device and that if America didn't surrender to the True Gods within a week, then they would detonate an enhanced device. _

_This is not the first time a cult had made this threat, witness the seizure of the Empire State Building just ten days ago now but worryingly, this is the first time the meagre forces of Homeworld Security have responded and the first time an SG team has responded visibly to an incident occurring on this planet. _

_An unconfirmed source within the White House has suggested that an energy signature which could potentially have been naquadah' was detected by an SGC controlled satellite..."_

_'"Desertions at an all time high', that was the word from sources within the Ministry of Defence today as the public demands to know: Why aren't more military units assisting the Police in keeping the fragile peace? _

_Word just coming in, as yet unconfirmed reports of a riot in progress at an Army base in Cheford, where the 22 nd Regiment, the Cheshire's are based, we'll bring you more on that as it comes in..."_

_"I have seen the signs, it is the Second Coming and He walks the stars once more, but the devils spawn; the Hammond and the Thompson, servants of the Morning Star are poisoning our souls against Him. _

_We must be strong, we must retake the Ring Of The Gods and we must go meet our God! Join us! And may the righteous arise in victory!"_

_"How close did we come to a second 9/11? _

_This 747 you see behind me had been seized by Religious Radicals, worshippers of the Sun God Ra who claimed that America must be punished for such heresy as to suggest their God was dead, we don't know which building they intended to hit and in truth, we will never know. _

_The plane landed just five hours ago with only a flight crew in SGC uniforms aboard, her original crew and passengers having vanished halfway through a broadcast by the militant radicals. _

_It is unknown what has happened to the Flight Crew, the passengers, indeed, even what happened to the cultists at this point in time"_

_"Desertions at an all time high yet recruitment reaching fever pitch as idealists and patriots stream to the recruiting centres to fight, not for their country but for their world. No clearer was this more evident then Washington DC where just yesterday the Military withdrew a regiment that had gone under strength after losing one hundred soldiers the last week, despite only 10 being injured. _

_Yet the streets of Washington are filled with people queuing to join the Air Force, hoping for a chance to join the Stargate Program, the hopefuls now guarded by the watchful eyes of the newly arrived Delta and Green Beret forces. It is perhaps noteworthy that despite their continued presence at the SGC, the queues outside the Marine, Army and Navy recruiting offices are almost non-existent. _

_We've spent a few minutes before going online asking why people were so eager to join up and the responses varied from keeping the homeland safe in the face of increased aggression across the globe, hoping to keep the Earth safe for their families, or even, for just a chance to get into space, or set foot on another world..."_

_"Across the country they arrived, by bus train or air, flowing to this undisclosed desert location to be trained in fighting the Goa'uld. These are representatives from every regiment in the Alliance Nations, here to learn the face of their new enemy, and to pass that knowledge on to their units back home..."_


	5. Four

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Okay, is till ignoring any and all emails regarding ounctuation getting stripped... so I am officially annoyed, this and a few other incidents are really really starting to sour me on this archive. If you want to keep following what i write, it might be worth pulling up my profile and grabbing the urls for future reference, both archives and the updates group.

Stone Cold: The host is female... but maktenos himself thinks of himself as male, if he could switch hosts to male he would but thanks to events in Thundergate, he can no longer switch hosts without dying

greyangle: heh... if you pull up the archive link for this series, you will find a fic (not by me, but canon in this verse) which places Xander Harris (BTVS) in command of a minor warship...

mikieb: he has his reasons... they will become clear

dnic5: thank you

rankukon alpha: thank you

okay, a lot of this fic will be written as snippets from a reporters eye view... Ive heard elsewhere that people think it works and is appropriate for this fic, but I want to know your opinions too, so please review

**NOTE: this is gonna get dark, just a warning **

**Chapter 4**

"The situation is bad"

"That is it" Thompson replied.

"What we want" Roslin continued, "is reassurances that the treaties and alliances we have will be kept even if the Government fall"

Thompson nodded grimly, and then looked directly into Roslin's eyes, "The treaties will be upheld. Authorised by the current government, we even have plans' should the Government fall and a hostile one take its place"

Roslin's eyes widened, but Thompson hadn't finished.

"That only protects us against a coup or similar however. I will _not _ move against a duly elected government2

"So there is still a risk2

Thompson nodded, "there is always a risk but the situation is bad enough that right now the various parties are working together to try and bring Britain back out of the chaos and that level of cooperation hasn't been seen in decades"

"I see"

_"A boast for World Security or more weapons in the race to dominate Earth from the sky? That is the question I everyone's minds today as the SGC confirms that more then 10 new minor warships of the MTB and MGB types are expected to launch this week. _

_Sources suggest this mass of new craft is intended to bring the existing squadrons up to full strength for the first time, however with losses recently suffered due to an alleged attempted invasion by the Aschen, they may fall just short..."_

_--- _

_"Tension fills the air as Ten-thousand protestors march on Washington, unusual, but not an unheard of event, what makes this time so different I hear you say? _

_Well, this time they are calling for war. _

_You heard it right folks, these protestors are calling on the government to seize the oil fields from the Arab nations to secure the supply for American usage. This comes as the Twenty Dollar Gallon hits the garage forecourts... or at least, those that are still open"_

_--- _

_"Ford stocks doubled almost overnight as mass-produced electric cars rolled off not just one or two minor factories, but off every single manufacturing plant in America and the EU. Ford has been first off the mark to adapt to the oil crisis with the shift to electric but they certainly wont be the last, with Citroen already converting its own plants and the rest expected to follow. _

_However, demand is high and if you want one of these, well the waiting list currently stands at six months and climbing fast..."_

_--- _

_"A pall of smoke rises in the North Sea as two drilling platforms burn, destroyed by radical extremists using fishing boats loaded with homemade fertilizer bombs. At this time, the Royal Navy is not commenting on rumours that three more of these fireships were put down by destroyers patrolling the region. _

_It is not yet determined how this will effect Britain's current self reliance on oil and gas supplies or on their small but essential pipeline of supplies to a beleaguered America..."_

_--- _

_"Shock, then a furore of nationalistic pride has hit China this week as the government announced the formation of the People's Liberation Army, Space with its first ship expected to launch within the month. How long they have been building the ship, or for that matter, its class are unknown but we do know just one thing for sure. _

_Its name, Jinaghu was officially announced just two hours ago"_

_--- _

_"Applauded by some, distrusted by most, the Babylon project is described as a Dream Given Form', a neutral place where beings of any race can gather for research, negotiations or just to build stronger links with others, and just ten minutes ago it became law with a margin of just two votes having already been ratified by Britain, Canada and France. _

_A controversial idea, many see it not as a beacon of peace and hope but of how we have been manipulated and controlled by several allied races in their search for Earth's far superior technologies. _

_Even more disturbingly, people are asking why are we even bothering with creating a neutral place for others when we should consider humanity first over all others, that if the allied races really want our help they should be willing to pay for it with more then a simple' space station"_

_--- _

_"Russia to commission a foreign military power to construct its space going warships? That's the rumour on the streets today as the new Marshall Of Space, Katya Popova meets with RSS representative Joan Williams in the Kremlin..."_

_--- _

"What's happening now?"

_"Well, not much on the ground, the guard detail has been heavily reinforced and there are now tanks patrolling the perimeter... that's a Abram's you can see behind me right now" _

_"But the alarms have been silenced and the fighters, identified as F-302's, the advanced starfighters Stargate command uses have scrambled and are now in the air... or for that matter, in space, we don't know for definite" _

"For those of you, who have just joined us in the studio, our reporter is Richard Adams and he is currently standing outside Area 51 where just ten minutes ago, a full squadron of F-302's scrambled from. The base is now on full alert"

_"Wait... something's happening here now... I see blast shields rising into place, crews are abandoning their tanks and running, just running for shelter... yes... yes, we are now being ordered into the base and into a blast shelter... I don't know what's going on, but I'm heading for cover, and..." _

_"My God" _

"Okay, we caught a bright flash through the camera there Richard, what do you see, what caused it?"

"Richard, can you tell us what you see?"

"Richard?"

_"Okay, okay, I can see a mushroom cloud rising in the distance, it's... I think its nuclear John and its looks to be rising over Las Vegas... I'm heading into shelter now and I just hope it's up to the job if we get hit... signing off... and running like BEEP"_

_--- _

"Shit! It's confirmed, Vegas just got hit"

"For the record, I fucking hate the cylons... they jump in too fucking close, far closer then the Goa'uld ever did. Right, where's that training squadron?" Peters barked, harassed, shocked and angry.

"The 6 th SFW is in the belt Commodore, they aren't operational"

"They are now, order them to make best speed for Earth orbit and kill any Cylons they come across"

"Aye... Cobra squadron just hit orbit and is now engaging... I've got several satellites re-entering atmosphere, should I disengage the power shunts?"

"Negative! just track them; don't wont the cylons getting any groundside access, we'll just have to replace them later" Peters growled, "and where the hell is 194 Squadron?"

"Launching now, they have had problems with protestors inside the perimeter... shit, they say they lost three birds, protestors rammed them to stop them taking off"

Peters stood still, sheer shock then elemental anger crossing her face, "and we are fighting to keep them alive _why?" _

"I don't think the protestors are watching the news, they certainly aren't paying attention to base personnel except to disrupt their efforts"

Peters grimaced, "signal the base commander, weapons free"

"Sir?"

"They are disrupting a military base during a time of war... if we survive this we can slam then with treason charges but for now, every second they delay the fighters and MTBs launching is another nuke we have to intercept... or another city destroyed. Consider them hostile now"

"Aye Sir"


	6. Five

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter Five 

_"widespread devastation across the region as fires burn out of control, the firemen either killed when Buenos Aires died or whilst frantically trying to contain the fires within the city boundaries. Now, the entire region burns out of control"_

_--- _

_"contact has now been lost with Vladivostok in the Russian Republic, whilst the cities fate is not yet confirmed, the sudden, indeed abrupt loss of contact leads to the very real possibility that that city has joined the long lists of the dead"_

_--- _

_"amazing scenes over New York as Stargate Command F-302 fighters and Royal Space Service Lancers have been seen frantically firing on a small black dot that was heading for the city. This dot, believed to be a nuclear device was hit, as you can see from the footage being shown now and broke up over the city. Now, that means somewhere within the boundaries we have an unshielded radiation hazard which regular army forces are believed to be searching for. _

_It is known at this time that railgun and laser fire from the defending fighters has hit several ground targets within the boundary and that there are casualties but compared to a direct strike from a nuclear device, well; the casualties are certainly light..."_

_--- _

_"A hero is mourned as fires rage through Paris; Sous-lieutenant Adrien Dubois was last seen deliberately aiming his Mirage fighter at an unidentified missile which was speeding over the city. At this time, the missile is believed to have come from an invader fighter"_

_--- _

_"It's officially over, according to Stargate Command spokesperson Disaster' Davis, the end signalled at 10.25pm Eastern Standard Time when a bright flash lit up the heavens. This flash we now know was the death of the attacking basestar, now tentatively labelled as being from the Secessionist faction of that race. _

_However, sources from within Homeworld Security and NASA are now warning of the very real hazard presented as debris from craft on both sides of this battle start breaking up in Earths atmosphere"_

_--- _

_"What? Would you like me to put it crudely Mister President? Fine, they caught us with our pants round our ankles and our arse in the air in the rapists section of the Penitentiary! _

_We wanted a defence net around earth, have done for years but your illustrious predecessor decided it unnecessarily increased the chances of detection considering the tendency of the Goa'uld to drop out of hyper well outside of Mars orbit, giving us prep time. He refused to listen when we told him that the cylons could and would drop right into Earths gravity well. _

_The only reason damage is as light' as it is, is because the Prime Minister had more sense and authorised a permanent CAP to be placed into orbit at RSS request, thereby legally overruling President Michael's micromanagement of the Stargate Project. _

_Hayes, you might not like or even be able to help how you became President, but right now you are President. It might be a good time to start acting like it. _

_Hailey out"_

_--- _

_"Foreign aid is now rushing into the affected regions, but with communications still effected by the loss of several critical communications satellites, the response has, unsurprisingly, been slowed greatly"_

_--- _

_"Uncoordinated and chaotic, that's how the effort by the firebomber craft of several nations near Buenos Aires has been described, crippled by the lack of GPS and Communications satellite coverage over the region._

_--- _

_NASA has confirmed that several replacements have been brought out of storage and are being prepped but they estimate five days until they will be ready. An RSS Airhead cargo craft is on standby to launch the satellites..."_

_--- _

The chaos was grand, devastating.

It was... perfect. They knew his vengeance now, and apparently just in time. The cylon attack was unexpected, but still, even he could see that having a totally unprepared public facing that was a bad thing. It wasn't part of the plan, but then you had to adapt.

Still, it had shown clearly how much of a very real threat the hostiles out there were and despite the mutterings of several of his comrades, he didn't think this was a ploy by either chain of command, he knew Hammond's type, solid and dependable they might often seem, but if they really didn't like what you were doing, they would stop you, court martial or no court martial.

He would have to call his allies up, persuade them that it was in their best interests, the best interests of the people that the RSS and SGC be subtly supported for a while. There was a time and a place to punish your guardians and now isn't the time.

What?

What did he just say?

No, no, No!

_"Reports now being released indicate that the Goa'uld Maktenos has an Earth Human, a member of the RSS in fact as a host. Her name, and yes its confirmed as a female has not yet been released for obvious reasons, but she is believed to be an Ex-pilot turned SAS operative and a Team Commander at the time when she was captured and taken as a host" _

They couldn't have.

They wouldn't have let my daughter be taken by one of those.

It has to be someone else, someone else's daughter, not mine.

But then, how many Daughters are listed as plain missing, not missing, presumed dead, or just plain dead?

Pilot turned SAS officer how many of them can their possibly be?

They let her be taken as a host.

They let my _daughter _ be taken as a host.

They shall pay.

The bitter man reached for his phone, and swiftly taped in a memorised number, "this is Pierce, unleash the hounds"


	7. Six

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter Six 

_"reports now in possession of this news agency outline detailed plans created by Stargate Command to use Prometheus class vessels to level targets within several states should a major war ever arise again. We have asked Major Davis of Stargate Command for a comment on the implications of these reports and his only response was to say they were created by a rogue agency, despite evidence to the contrary..."_

_---_

_  
"War. That's the word on everyone's lips today as the leaders of the Arab nations gather today at an undisclosed location to discuss how to proceed in the face of new evidence of brutal expansionism planned by the old security and dirty tricks agency of Stargate Command, the NID. This comes at a time of increasing public demand within the western nations for the crude oil supplies which are so desperately needed yet have been denied us by the Arab Nations to be seized"_

_--- _

_This is a public awareness broadcast for the Colorado Springs Area. All persons are requested to remain within their homes from 5pm tonight to 12am tomorrow and not, repeat not leave any windows or doors open. All businesses and organisations not involved in a utility or emergency service are hereby closed for the duration by order of the State Governor. This time may be extended so you are asked to listen to your TV or radio stations for further news. Again, all residents within Colorado Springs area are requested to remain within their homes from 5pm tonight to 12am tomorrow. This is a precaution due to the radioactive cloud currently heading for the area._

_--- _

_"Reporter Helton, formally of the Sun was laughed and jeered by the press today after his attempt to publicly denounce several of the major press and news agencies for making a deliberate attempt to smear the Royal Space Service and Stargate Command as part of a revenge plot. His theories have gotten him many admirers amongst the Conspiracy Theorist crowd despite a complete lack of any credible evidence..."_

_--- _

_"Calls for a public inquiry into the mishandling of Earths defence during the recent Cylon attack reached fever pitch today as the number of dead continues to rise, as radiation damage and disease continue to take their toll"_

_--- _

_"A spokesperson for the Ministry of Construction, Space in the United Kingdom confirmed today that a large number of new warships of the Motor Torpedo Boat and Motor Gunboat types had been launched today, three days ahead of schedule. These craft have been hurried into production to assist in defensive efforts but many question their usefulness compared to the capital ships of the Dauntless, Prometheus and Britannica classes, indeed, there is an increasing call for the money being wasted on these minor warships to be diverted to more worthwhile efforts..."_

_--- _

_"A man on the run, that's how Casey Pierce is described today as three more reporters have publicly admitted to press manipulation of the general public in an effort for Pierce to have revenge on the space defence forces for the loss of his daughter. At this time, his daughter is listed as missing and both commands are flatly refusing to discuss her status. This has raised eyebrows as it is against the normally co-operative stance shown by the Commands since disclosure..."_

_--- _

_"A troubled craft, that is how the Lancer is being described by many sources within the RSS yet has any effort been made to deal with a known problem? Royal Space Service spokesperson Commodore Joan Williams says production delays' are the reason for the continued front-line service of the Lancer fighter, yet there is no evidence that the Lancer production facilities at Manston and St Athans have even been reconfigured to produce a new fighter type"_

_--- _

_"A familiar scene played out once more as tearful soldiers carry the bodies of their dead. This time however, it's the Homeworld Security facilities at Cheyenne Mountain, formally known as Norad and Stargate Command that are picking up the bloody tab. _

_Five hours ago, well armed cultists, worshippers of the God of the Dead, Anubis launched what Disaster' Davis is calling a well planned and co-ordinated attack on the main entrance to the facility, killing the guards at the main gates in seconds before storming the boundaries of the base. They were eventually pushed back by forces from within the mountain itself, but the toll at this time is believed to be high..."_

_--- _

_"Shock and fear rocketed around the United States today as it was confirmed that a number of Jaffa were amongst the cultist forces which attacked the Homeworld Security facilities within Colorado today, sparking urgent questions of how exactly did they arrive on earth? And who exactly is behind all the cultist groups springing up across the planet?"_

_--- _

_"Explosions lit the sky at 12pm Greenwich Mean Time today as the reinforced 1 st PDF Squadron engaged a Cylon baseship as it dropped out of jump, the MTB's swiftly destroying the craft before more then a handful; of fighters could be launched. The fighters have now been confirmed as destroyed. _

_This latest attack had lent more fire to increasing calls for the bulk of the fleet to be recalled to defensive duties as fear over a fleet assault increases. Indeed, RSS command has publicly admitted that in the face of a determined assault, the current defensive perimeter would be inadequate"_

_--- _

_"Urgent calls for a network of the type one defensive satellites and newer type twos to be placed in Earth orbit have sparked intense interest from the governments of a number of EU nations as calls for improved protection increase from an increasingly and unsurprisingly paranoid public"_

_--- _

_"Parliament passed a bill today authorising an initial 7 funding increase for the Royal Space Service, this bill passed through the houses five times before sufficient votes could be acquired in both houses for it to pass. _

_In the end, promises of a public inquiry into the breach of defences which allowed the Cylons to destroy several cities were used to make the House Of Lords capitulate, followed by a rider releasing additional money for the immediate construction of another Dauntless class warship for it to pass in the Commons"_

_--- _

_"Negotiations have begun between Stargate Command, the RSS and the leaders of several nations as the call for a defence network grows in intensity _

_Wait... breaking news at this hour, reports coming in now of a massive gunfight underway within Washington DC... They're saying that Delta Force has engaged an as yet unknown group near to the Capital Building... gunfire in that area is confirmed now, we'll bring you further information as we have it" _


	8. Seven

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter Seven 

_"The Russian Minister of Space confirmed just five minutes ago that negotiations with the RSS for the construction of several space going warships had been completed with the order of one Prometheus class Cruiser and three Dauntless Heavy Destroyers. These vessels will be constructed at Thundersdawn station in Mars orbit as the slips become available. As of 13:00 today, all slips at Thundersdawn are full with new construction and repairs"_

_--- _

_"Judges in France threw out a legal challenge to the Governments declaration of martial law today, sparking a declaration from the Liberté Français that the restriction would be lifted, one way or the other. The French government is believed to be taking the threat very seriously"_

_--- _

_"Stargate Commands website was taken offline earlier today after a major attack by several hackers, believed to be searching for classified information. A SGC spokesperson was quick to point out that the classified information is all on servers kept isolated from the internet and that no restricted material could be found on the web servers"_

_--- _

_"Cardiff-Wales International Airport remains closed today despite increasing pressure from the public to reopen the airport. The airport was first closed due to fears that an aircraft inbound to Cardiff-Wales would be seized and crashed into the facilities at St Athan, a very real fear considering the closeness of the two airfields. _

_At this point, the Military shows no sign of releasing its hold on the airport; indeed, some are suggesting they intend to absorb the facilities into RSS St Athan"_

_--- _

_"For the third night in a row, explosions have lit up the night sky as Cylons forces attempt to breech the defences around the Sol System, this is now the fifth time since disclosure that Cylon forces have attempted to assault earth, prompting further calls for more warships to be recalled. _

_At this point, only three Earth-human built capital ships are available to protect both the sol system and the colonies in Alpha Centauri, assisted by just three captured Goa'uld Ha'taks, one of which is obsolete and awaiting refit"_

_--- _

_"Stargate Command today announced the reinforcement of Earth's defences with 8 captured Al-kesh bombers, craft generally reserved for Special Forces or training duties. To many, this is just seen as a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed. Never the less, both commands are insisting that they have insufficient warships to protect earth to the asked for degree and maintain their other commitments"_

_--- _

_"Area 51 came under heavy attack today as Stargate Command F-302 fighters launched on another scramble, prompting further calls for Homeworld security to investigate claims that alien forces are deliberately stirring up religious fervour and riots on Earth, Homeworld security is refusing to comment. One F-302 fighter was killed by a hand-held SAM before it could escape"_

_--- _

_"Within an hour of President Hayes authorising a shoot on sight policy within the Area 51 and 52 exclusion zones, fifteen persons had been shot defying authority and entering the restricted areas. President Hayes is recorded as saying 'Its time to get tough on those who would disrupt our efforts to defend the people of this world'"_

_--- _

_"A massive explosion has destroyed a number of government buildings within the French capital of Paris today, creating a death toll that has hit the four-hundred mark and is still climbing. No group has yet come forward to claim responsibility"_

_--- _

_"This is Peter Debouch from the Tau'ri News Service, reporting to you from Thundersdawn station which as you can see from the lights behind me is at full military alert as three basestars currently close on our location. _

_This is the largest hostile force to arrive within the system since Disclosure and it brings with it almost six hundred fighters, all armed with nukes from the Cylons massive stockpile of such explosive devices. _

_At this moment, the bulk of the systems defences are forming around with the station, with a secondary force led by the USS Independence over earth, should this prove to be a feint. _

_Wait... the station is shuddering now, I can feel it through the bulkheads, this is a steady shuddering, most likely the main batteries firing on the approaching hostiles... _

_Yes yes I'm okay... _

_Is the camera still on? _

_Okay, I can only assume that was an incoming shot which caused that then but the station shook violently as you no doubt saw, enough so to knock both me and my cameraman off our feet. _

_Wait... there's a message over the intercom here, I don't know if you can hear it but it Captain Peters stating that concentrated fire from the station, Indomitable and Invincible has bracketed one of the baseships and destroyed it, Now moving onto a second baseship but the fighters have now engaged. It's a lot of fighters; they will be a real problem for the defenders... _

_The station is now rocking and shaking lie a ship in high seas, you can hear groaning throughout the structure, but that's not unexpected, Thundersdawn is undergoing structural reinforcement and a number of main structural members have been removed, whether this will be a problem... well, I really hope not. But the strain of the outgoing and incoming fire is making this massive station move. _

_Okay... okay, we are now being ordered to evacuate this section of the hull, they are saying the shield integrity is weakening and are moving everyone they can as deep into the station as possible. _

_Another intercom message... Independence has engaged a fourth basestar in earth orbit, and... yes, it sounds like the defenders here just killed their second... no news on what's happening with the fighters _

_Okay, okay... the station isn't just rocking now, its shaking violently, the structure is really moaning, groaning and even wailing under the stresses... this isn't outgoing fire, this has to be heavy incoming weapons fire. And that's an alarm, a radiological alarm in fact, the station has very few substances that are radioactive aboard, most of which are classed as relatively harmless so this isn't an internal breech, this is energy starting to leak not just through the shields, but through several inches of armour plate too. _

_Now I'm hearing something about Indomitable being forced to disengage, I can not confirm that, but if so it potentially means another real problem for the defenders... _

_And it's a kill, its now being announced that all four basestars have been destroyed but that 700 cylon fighters need to be destroyed... that's up on the initial count of six hundred, but with the addition of the fourth basestar, is unsurprising that the number has increased _

_Unfortunately, it is these fighters that are the real threat here, with so many in the area it is easy for a few to be lost, slipping past the defenders to attack earth itself. Now... wait, what's that? Oh my" _

Transmission Terminated At Source-


	9. Eight

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter Eight 

_"The Tau'ri News Service regrets to announce the loss of reporter Peter Debouch and his cameraperson, Michelle Smith, killed during the cylons first attempt to board Thundersdawn station when a damaged seal between the station and the cylon vessel caused a large section of the hull to decompress"_

_--- _

_"Debris continues to rain down through the skies after the latest cylon attack, the blazing trails of light from the burning wreckage providing enough light that a permanent twilight appears to have set over several areas..."_

_--- _

_"Exact details of just how many of our valiant defenders are as yet unknown, but it has been confirmed that at least one of the Planetary Defence Force fighter squadrons has been made combat ineffective by its losses in the recent engagement. At this time, the number of confirmed dead is one hundred, most aboard Thundersdawn station herself, but that number is expected to continue rising"_

_--- _

_"Reinforcements arrived from our colonial allies today as the Battlestar Galactica dropped off one of her Viper squadrons to assist in the defence of our planet in the face of continued Cylon attacks before returning to stand sentinel over the Alpha Centauri system. These very welcome additions to the defensive forces touched down at Area 51 just five hours ago"_

_--- _

_"Armed Army personnel moved in on a meeting between religious leaders in New York today, arresting them for inciting riots and religious disturbances. The leaders involved, who come from both the Roman Catholic Church and the Muslim faith as said to be defending their actions as necessary to ensure that good, good-fearing people control earths defence against the Cylons and their false gods, not some godless traitors to the faith _

_A spokesperson from the New York Prosecutors office has said that the evidence is overwhelming and that the trail is expected to be brief"_

_--- _

_"A city under siege, that's how Paris is described today as the twenty-fifth person was killed in just 48 hours by the snipers roaming the city. The military presence in the city has been reinforced but so far to no avail. The major has refused to comment on the fact that all the deceased have been high-ranking government personnel"_

_--- _

_"In an unexpected move, Germany has now begun negotiations with Stargate Command to join the alliance of Russia and America which currently, on paper at least, funds that body. President Hayes is said to welcome the move which is expected to help bring the Space Forces under as few banners as possible, reducing any duplication of effort. Or at least, that's the stated reason from the German Government"_

_--- _

_"The finger of suspicion now lies over several French Military units within Paris after reporters from the AFP agency shot footage confirming that several soldiers had not only spotted for at least one sniper, but had provided extra ammunition before returning to their posts. _

_The soldiers in question are still at their posts today, but the AFP has lost contact with it reporters, who were last seen being led into the temporary headquarters of the 3ème Brigade Mécanisé on the edge of Paris"_

_--- _

_"Earths defences were bolstered today as the destroyer Interrogator arrived within the system from parts unknown, the Royal Space Service is refusing to comment on the ships previous mission, why exactly it took so long to reach Earth or even where the missing three warships not yet recalled or active in Alliance space are"_

_--- _

_"Tensions reached fever point in Paris today as fighting broke out between the 1er Brigade Mécanisé __guarding the French Parliament and the 3ème Brigade Mécanisé which was apparently attempting to seize the parliament buildings... It's a confused situation right now, it may just have been bad orders, but with more and more information coming to light pointing at links between the 3ème Brigade Mécanisé, the recent snipers roaming over the city and the Liberté Français movement, it is looking extremely likely that we may be looking at a coup in progress here"_

_--- _

_"Rioting in New York for the third day running as the NYPD, assisted by the Army, continues to hold a number of the cities religious leaders prisoner pending trial for inciting riots and religious disturbances. The damage is said to be in the billions and already large portions of Manhattan Island have been sealed off as being completely unsafe"_

_--- _

_"A massive explosion rocked Pearl harbour today as forces, apparently of a Goa'uld cult, attempted to seize munitions and weapons from the base. Now, the exact cause of the explosion is unknown but considering that cultists were known to be inside the armoury at the time it detonated, it's entirely possible that the cultists deliberately detonated the explosives, but its far more likely they detonated them by accident, at this point in time we don't know for sure..."_

_--- _

_"Reports now coming in indicate that Ravenbright station in the Alpha Centauri system has come under attack from cylon forces, apparently attempting to discern its defensive capabilities. General O'Neill, the system commander is now on record as saying they discerned the defensive capabilities for all of five seconds... It is unknown as to whether the experimental jamming technology under development within the system prevented the artificial intelligences transmitting themselves back to cylon space"_

_--- _

_"Outrage in parliament today as the Prime Minister confirmed that MTB Squadron Patrol One, along with Interrogator, the newly formed 7 th Star Fighter Wing and the support ships Liberty and Sir Galahad had been ordered out of the system. _

_The Prime Minister refused to comment on why these ships had been removed from Earth's defences stating that it was restricted information"_

_--- _

_"A report now coming in from Alliance space indicates a break in the fighting as Centauri Prime has surrendered to Alliance forces led by the Minbari sometime during the last week. Unfortunately, I don't have the dating conversions to be more accurate then that, but what is known is that a full 85 of Centauri space is now confirmed as Alliance controlled and the rest is expected to fall quickly, allowing the allies to concentrate more fully on the threats posed by Anubis and his Drakh allies"_

_--- _

_"Bullets are now ricocheting over my head as Frenchman fights Frenchman, already large areas of the city are buring as tanks and infantry roam the streets some in defence of the government, others trying hard to topple it. It's a bloody and unholy mess, but once again, the French are having a civil war..." _


	10. Nine

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Chapter Nine**

They betrayed me.

The petty, weak spineless fools betrayed me.

No matter, I have other tools that can help me complete my work, my glorious vengeance on those who allowed the perversion of my daughter.

Meanwhile... I must call some mercenary contacts, those that would betray me must know the penalty of treason and they will know it before they die.

_"A world holds it breathe today as for the fourth night running, the peace in the skies above our heads holds. But how long will it last before the next assault on our world?"_

_--- _

_"The most wanted real estate in existence, population a mere five thousand, this is Alpha Centauri. But if you want to live here, forget it, immigration is tightly controlled; you need both a high security clearance and a skill this burgeoning colony requires. Simply throwing money at an estate agent will not do..."_

_--- _

_"Representatives from the Royal Space Service and Stargate Command refused to comment today over increasing rumours that they were maintaining a third starbase within an undisclosed location, believed to be a nebula"_

_--- _

_"A shortage of reporters? Strange as it may seem, that's the truth today as more and more reporters are implicated in the Pierce scandal and getting dropped like hot potatoes by news agencies desperate to maintain what remains of their reputations..."_

_--- _

_"In other news, Congress passed a bill today by a narrow margin of just five votes writing Stargate Command into existence as a separate military force, alongside the Army, Navy and Airforce. An act of this type has not been carried out since the Air Force was split from the Army just after the Second World War. With it, comes a increased budget allocation of Fifteen Billion Dollars, a number which will rise as contributions from Russia and Germany are added to the total"_

_--- _

_"Reports just released indicate that construction on the Babylon Station have started with the positioning of the first structural member by Stargate Diplomat Dr Weir, Delenn of the Minbari and G'kar of the Narn at a classified location outside of alliance space"_

_--- _

_"Homeworld Security was enacted as a Federal Agency by Congress today, an organisation intended to be the civilian counterpart to Stargate Command. A spokesperson for the President has confirmed that former Stargate Commanding Officer General Hammond has accepted retirement from the military in order to head up the now official organisation"_

_--- _

_"France, a country stunned and reeling today as it was confirmed that traitorous military units had successfully seized over 70 of the nations representatives, including the current President after the survivors of the 1er Brigade Mécanisé which was guarding the parliament buildings was forced to surrender. _

_We don't have too many details from within the capital itself, details are still very confused at this time but we do know that a large number of Army Units are moving towards the capital, whether in support if the coup or in an attempt to reinstate the government is unknown. _

_The Airforce itself is grounded; we have confirmed reports of fighting within at least two airbases, their loyalty uncertain. The Navy however has almost unanimously made its position clear and if the renegade Generals intend to keep their control over the capital then at some point, they will have to deal with the Navy. _

_Meanwhile, the border is closed as France's neighbours move large numbers of Infantry and tank units to the border, several jets have been shot down attempting to escape the country and portions of the Channel Tunnel have been flooded. France is now a nation contained, no one is going in, no-one is going out"_

_--- _

_"We are now receiving reports that indicate the units from the SAS and 2 nd Parachute Regiment have landed in France and have seized at least one airfield belonging to the Armée De L'air, the French Air Force. _

_Why such a move has been authorised by the Prime Minister is unknown, what is not questioned at this time however is that a large number of tanks from the King's Royal Hussars as well as various support equipment, including Rapier anti-air batteries from the Air Force Regiment are now loading onto landing craft and roll-on, roll-off transports at several docks on the southern coast. _

_How this apparent invasion will help the confused situation in France, god only knows"_

_--- _

_"A potential bounty of warships for Earth's Defence or an unacceptable risk to our troops? That's the question today as Stargate Command vehemently denies all rumours that they have been given a mandate to seize as many Goa'uld ships as possible for our own use. _

_This has been damned by several experts' because the only sources of such ships available are renegade Jaffa or vessels still answering to Anubis. Seizing vessels in use by Maktenos would invalidate our current truce and place Earth at far greater risk..."_

_--- _

_"Use of anti-depressants has increased three fold since disclosure, that's the word from industry giant Smith-Kline today..."_

_--- _

_"Royal Space Service and Stargate Command representatives are refusing to comment other then to confirm the arrival of an allied warship after an observatory in Utah noticed an unidentified object heading for the darkside of Mars"_

_--- _

_"Restricted Transmission for HWS George Hammond, RSS Admiral Thompson, SGC General Carter/Celmac, Tollan Leader Narim. Copy to POTUS, PMOUK. Asgard vessel Ymir (Beliskner Class) appeared briefly at Thundersdawn station 10:20 to 10:35 Zulu time. Her Captain (Fenrir) confirmed that an apparent breakthrough had occurred regarding failures of Asgard clones, and that the breakthrough had come from the Tollan contingent investigating the problem. Details were not provided, but Fenrir appeared excited and grateful. Advised us to anticipate a visit from Thor with a specific request. Not known if this was an authorised visit. Further details attached"  
_


	11. Ten

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 10 

_"The Prime Minister confirmed today that a section of France, including at least one military airfield and a port had been seized by British Forces, he refused to explain this breech of France's Sovereignty, but did state that Britain would support the Loyalist units in attempting to retake the country"_

_--- _

_"It has begun again, the word coming in from Stargate and Royal space Service representatives only confirms what everyone on the Eastern seaboard already knows, the siege has begun again with the arrival of three Cylon basestars in the skies above our head. These warships were once again destroyed but with Thundersdawn station under repair, a second fighter squadron, this time from Stargate Command reduced to combat ineffectiveness and many of the warships in the system needing repairs, how much longer can we hold out in the face of this siege? _

_Already, sources within the White House are indicating that a massive formation of Cylon warships may be forming not far from Earth"_

_--- _

_"Rumours of another major spaceyard facility to be placed in Earth's orbit abound today as the Royal Space Service confirms that the Free Jaffa have requested talks to negotiate for their fleet of warships to be upgraded with Earth Human technologies"_

_--- _

_"Another city joins the dead as two Cylon raiders slip past the defences, dropping a pair of dirty devices on Exeter, Southern England. This historic cathedral city has been a Mecca for tourists for years, now the entire region is being evacuated as radiation levels reach deadly levels..."_

_--- _

_"Cheering throughout China today as the Jinaghu, the first warship commissioned by the People's Liberation Army, Space launched from an undisclosed location within China. The launch, which was broadcast over Chinese television allowed the warship to be finally identified as a Prometheus class vessel"_

_--- _

_"Rioting broke out in Austria today as protestors marched on the capital, demanding that the Government support their true gods'. Now, strange as it may seem, the protestors did not start the riot, it was in fact started by members of the general public, disgusted by the marchers. _

_The hospitals in the region are filling fast as more and more injured are brought in, but as this point it's looking like the protestors lost"_

_--- _

_"22 Soldiers of the elite 2 nd Parachute regiment, along with 10 members of the SAS lie dead today as forces loyal to General Bagot and the Liberté Français attempt to force British troops off of French soil. Now, why they are doing this when the bulk of their country is out of their control is unknown, but many are beginning to suspect there is a real reason why Britain moved so fast to seize that particular airfield"_

_--- _

_"The Royal Space Service released a statement earlier today confirming that Allied Commander Enerina and her second, Enerist had passed the requisite courses required to command an RSS warship. With that formality out of the way, ownership of the Dauntless class Defiant will transfer to Enerina when she launches sometime this fortnight. This is as a replacement for her own Del Shakka Mel which was lost on a mission several months ago"_

_--- _

_"Unconfirmed reports indicate that Interrogator and her task force are back in the sol system today after a week of operating behind Cylon lines. Exactly what Interrogator was doing behind enemy lines is uncertain, but military analysts say that the taskforce was too large for simple intelligence gathering, too small to wage an all out war, pointing to the possibility that Interrogator was engaged in hit and run attacks and raiding"_

_--- _

_"The Exeter exclusion zone has been widened today in response to increased radiation levels throughout the region. Already, the total of those displaced by the latest Cylon attacks has hit the three million mark and that number is growing by the minute. The Head of the Environmental Agency is said to be weeping constantly as the damage reports and assessments continue to flood his desk. And if he is weeping, god only knows what the Prime Minister is doing"_

_--- _

_"A confused situation in France just gets worse as resistance groups across the country have begun attacking military units and infrastructure regardless of which side controls them. Many military units are still sitting stunned, trying to figure out what the hell happened and where there loyalties lie. Add to this the desperate efforts of the public services not only to maintain law and order, but to keep people informed about the dangerous radiation now being carried across the channel not to mention the movement of both British and now German troops into France and its no wonder that nobody truly knows what is going on inside the country at the moment"_

_--- _

_"Homeworld Security is said to be investigating reports today which places at least one squad of Jaffa inside the French capital, which is currently believed to be under the control of the Rebel Liberté Français movement. These, as yet unconfirmed reports, could place new light on the difficulties facing France at the current time"_

_--- _

_"Fighting again broke out around Washington DC as another attack is launched on the Capitol buildings, this time the attackers were forced of with minimal loss of life for the defenders but it raises further questions about public safety in a city which is rapidly becoming a warzone" _


	12. Eleven

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 11 

_"Unconfirmed sources today say that phase one of a hidden base has been completed somewhere inside a nebula, rumours of such a facility have been circulating for a while and its known that several vessels have been guarding something at an undisclosed location, but this is the first time that there has been any indication that the facility, if it exists, is incomplete or has been under construction. _

_Wait... breaking news, a statement has just been released by the Royal Space Service indicating that an unnamed base is under construction inside a nebula and that phase one of the construction has been completed. It also indicates that this facility was placed in order to guard something... the location and name of the facility have not been released however"_

_--- _

_"All out war within French Borders today as German forces link up with the Free French and British forces amidst rumours that several Naquadah point sources have been detected from orbit within Paris. This comes as surprisingly large numbers of Parisians have been joining up with rebel forces and assisting their takeover, including several members of the fallen French Government. Sources with Britain and Germany are refusing to comment on the possibility of mind control"_

_--- _

_"Massed raids by members of the Secret Service Uniformed Devision and FBI have seized in excess of eight-hundred weapons and over eighty million in cash which was being used to supply and fund the continued attacks on Government buildings which have so far claimed over six-hundred lives within the capital"_

_--- _

_"Heavy fighting around the Capital as the combined forces of Britain, Germany and the Free French attempt to take the Capital from Rebel forces. Losses have been described as staggering as Parisans charge frenzied into the allied lines. There is no doubt in the minds of these soldiers now that the forces within the capital do not have their free will, that they are under the effects of Nish'ta, the Goa'uld mind control drug or something similar. Unfortunately, all they can do is save themselves and hope they can destroy the source before the entire city comes under its effects"_

_--- _

_"The allied line crumbled and broke this morning as during a dawn raid on the Capital, several Free French Army units turned their guns upon their comrades in the Free French, the Royal Army and the German Army and opened fire. _

_It is believed that at least eighty loyal soldiers died before the traitors were forced to retreat into the Capital, loudly proclaiming their alligance to the False God Iblis and that number is expected to at least treble as allied commanders wait for their units to report in, many never will. _

_In the aftermath, a number of units wearing the mark of Iblis have been seen leaving the city and seizing several towns on the periphery. For the first time since the Civil war began, the Rebels now have solid control over several areas outside of the capital itself"_

_--- _

_"A sigh of relief is breathed today as Stargate Command confirms that a large Cylon taskforce, seen gathering only three starsystems away for several weeks now has left the area. The reason this battlegroup has broken off is unknown, but sources say that considering the abruptness and speed with which the group left, it is entirely possible that they had been diverted to assist with defensive duties elsewhere"_

_--- _

_"Homeworld Security continues to come under fire today as an increasing body of evidence places several agents of the Goa'uld Anubis on Earth stirring up the worst of the riots within the months since Disclosure. George Hammond, who resigned a Two-star commission to take command of the new organisation has stated firmly that the unknown Jaffa or Goa'uld could not have come through the Stargate, placing the ball very firmly in the Royal Space Services court. Their response was simply to say that their sensor net is not proof against a stealthed warship or troop transport and that detection of Goa'uld forces on the ground was the responsibility of Homeworld Security. How long they will continue to pass the buck in public is unknown, but in private, cooperation between the agencies is said to be swift and untouched by political issues"_

_--- _

_From: POTUS __To: Hammond HWS, Thompson RSS  
__Copy: PMOUK, General Carter SGC _

_Look, I know you two have an ongoing joke about areas of responsibility, but now you've let the press get wind of it, worse, you appear to have used the Press to continue the joke publicly. A word to the wise, the Press do not know it's an ongoing joke, they think it's a real argument, which is already causing me problems. So, please stop before the press figures it out, they WILL find some way of getting back at you for using them. _

_In simple terms you should be able to understand... separate corners the pair of you or I will tan your hides. Stop the nonsense right now, understood?"_

_--- _

_"With popular support from the Austrian people, their government began negotiations with the Royal Space Service intending to join the alliance of countries which currently funds and supports that body. Austria will officially be the fourth nation to support the Royal Space Service"_

_--- _

_"A motion for control of the Royal Space Service, Stargate Command and Homeworld Security to be transferred to the United Nations was unsurprisingly blocked by those nations directly involved in the spacewar today, prompting further calls for the United Nations to be declared obsolete in the face of recent revelations, a call which is being ignored by several nations. _

_A legal challenge to that decision is expected"_

_--- _

_"The Arab stranglehold over Oil supplies continues to be felt today, even as electric powered cars start to flow off the production lines in Europe and America. Queuing for petrol and diesel is endemic still, only the United Kingdom is relatively unaffected, having been self-sufficient for oil and gas needs for several decades now but even so, the pinch is being felt, the price per gallon having doubled over the last year"_


	13. Twelve

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Okay, lots of reviews this time:  
mikieb: **Impractical. Whilst it is certainly practical for the oil to be drilled for Alpha Centauris useage, if you want to shift it too Earth you need to transfer it somehow which means ships. No tankers or supertankers exist so you would have to build them, then arrange some degree of protection as they move between Sol and Alpha Centauri. Then, you would have to arrange somemethod of moving oil from surface to ship and ship to surface... Initial set-up costs: Excessive to the extreme. Running costs: Very High. In all likelehood, this would always run very much in the red.  
As for the second point, short term no way in hell, long term, the guns are already planned, the shields arent. Put it this way, the Tau'ri analogues of the Tollan Ion weapons are largely untried, they have been test-fired but NOT used in any kind of combat. Would you put an untried highly advanced weapon system onto the surface of a politically unstable world? Plus, theirs the cost of such devices... best wait till the situation has cooled down, and the Ion cannons are more understood and improved.  
**greyangle: **thank you, and yes, we will be seing more character interaction  
**rankukonalpha1: **Discontinuity: Indefatigable is officially on hiatus  
**The sithspawn: **No, they dont know what Anubis looks like yet, or that he is a fallen ascendent and probably bad, too many parrellels between Anubis and Lucifier...  
and Sithspawn, not in a hurry, not for the intergate anyway, that item is _dangerous_ as hell.  
**Banner: **thank you  
**someone: **discontinuity: indefatigble is on hiatus, but this one is going strong. as always, if you want updates before gets updated, join the yahoo group, link is on my authors profile page  
**2strive: **there is, at this point in time, no plans for any discoveries on mars, and the story about chocky and the first attack on earth hasnt been written.

**To all the reviewers, thank you!**

**Chapter 12**

"It's confirmed then?" O'Neill asked, his face crackly and somewhat distorted on the screen, a side effect not so much of maintaining a communications link between two separate star systems and keeping it realtime, or the fact that this was a conference call therefore several individuals were sharing the same, limited bandwidth but rather a side effect of the excessive encryption needed for a classified realtime conference call and the limited bandwidth combined.

Whatever the reason, it didn't stop the expressions of each member of the call being easily recognised.

"Not yet, but the President has asked us to start seriously considering how we will work this. And frankly, I am open to suggestions, there are certainly a few direct conflicts between how the RSS has organised and how the SGC has organised that will need to be dealt with"

Peters nodded, her image blurring as the power compression routines sucked the computer dry of processing power, "fingers are going to get trodden on, regardless"

Thompson snorted, dryly, and somewhat amused, "it all comes down to that age-old sci-fi argument doesn't it? Who would really control warships in space? The Navy, as in the Royal Space Service, or the Air Force, as in Stargate Command?"

"Air Force in my opinion" General Carter shrugged, "but I'm more then a little biased. Air Force led the way, we started Stargate Command, with the aid of a few civilians, it was the Air Force which opened the Stargate and we certainly have the most experience..."

"In ground warfare you have the most experience yes, but as far as ship to ship engagements goes, the RSS leads the way" Thompson shrugged, "and the RSS is Navy, more or less"

"This" Peters said dryly, "is not going to be an easy argument. There have always been arguments either way. Navy knows ships and ship to ship warfare better but Air Force tends to lead the way with new technologies" she shrugged, her hands rising as she took a sip from her mug, "plus some would say its an easier step from the sir to space then from water to space"

"Well, I know the US Government is going to argue that if we combine into... " O'Neill waved his arms, somewhat dismissively, "a Tau'ri Star Service, or something, that the Air Force effectively becomes the new Navy, and you guys Well, the Navy is the British Senior Service after all, and like Thompson said, RSS is navy therefore its is no stretch to guess what you guys are gonna push for"

"Tau'ri Star Service" Peters mused.

Carter shrugged, and O'Neill winced as the aged Air Force Generals eyes glowed, "that is certainly the most... sane suggestion I have heard so far today"

"Selmac, nice to hear from you, but no, you can't use it"

Thompson shot O'Neill an amused look over his shoulder, his voice rising just loud enough to be heard over his and the Generals mics, "overruled General. Peters, add it to the list"

"Yes sir" Peters smirked at the dismayed image of General O'Neill, "I will make sure everyone knows whose suggestion it was too"

"No!"

O'Neill was universally smirked at, and universally ignored and with a dismayed, almost theatrical huff, the General crosses his arms, annoyed.

"Truth be told, there is a real chance we would win that argument" Thompson said, his expression thoughtful, "the RSS has just too strong a hold over space operations for that not to have a major impact on how that fight ends"

"You may be right at that" General Carter nodded, unhappily, "but whatever we do, we have to send the loser a major bone or there will be a real problem... but I don't like the situation anyway. We've been operating as combined forces for ages and splitting again is gonna cause a few problems"

Thompson nodded, "it has to happen though, the roles are too specialized for us to maintain proper chain of command and training as a combined force with the volume of build up we are now anticipating"

"Maybe..." Carter remained clearly unhappy with the situation, but that was to be expected, there would be a lot of it going around.

Peters sighed, "Best solution I can think of is to make the fleet's navy and the PDF forces Air Force. Ships have always been the Navies domain after all and our politicians could almost certainly argue for Naval control, Naval chain of Command for a combined... well, Navy. But with the exception of carrier based craft, Fighters have always been the Air Force's area and fighters make up the bulk of the PDF forces"

"The Royal Air Force, the US Air Force have always been offensive forces, you are talking about making them defensive. Those personnel who have transferred will not like that" O'Neill commented, making no effort to hide his troubled expression, not in this company.

"You know our orders, or at least the orders we are going to get before long" Thompson shrugged, knowing he was pointing out the obvious, "the politicians are pushing for a combined force for all the nations yet separated into the traditional Navy, Army, Air Force and Marine divisions and whether we like it or not, we are going to get the policy decisions on that one"

"We aren't gonna get a perfect solution" Carter pointed out.

"Certainly not, but Peters suggestion might be the best. Or at least, it's the first idea there which will not only work but we could actually get past the politicians" Thompson eyed Carter and O'Neill warily through the screens, he heard O'Neills reply through the air of the conference room a full three seconds before it sounded from the speakers though.

"Agreed" was O'Neills weary and reluctant answer.

Carter nodded; his agreement and his dislike of that disagreement evident in his expression.

"That leaves Army and Marines and whilst that may sound easy, I've already had deputations from both Forces asking for transport to Ravenbright to 'discuss' the issue" Thompson grimaced as he spoke, sarcastically emphasising the word discuss.

"Well I may be missing something, but shouldn't the bulk of the ground forces be Army?" Carter asked.

"Certainly," Peters glanced distracted to one side, as she quickly, quietly accepted a report from an unseen member of her station crew, "but where does that leave the Marines? What will be their 'niche'?"

"The GC teams are doing good work and frankly, they scare the bejeesus out of any Jaffa or Warriors when they show up on the battlefield but there numbers are limited by the expense of their equipment..." Carter nodded, "I think, and Selmac agrees with me, that the gatecrashers are the closest thing we have to the Marines and frankly, any die-hard marine supporters will love the thought that the Marine title will be dropped on such a deadly and effective force"

A thoughtful expression crossed Thompson's face, then he nodded.

Peters however was not so sure, "I know my contact with Gulliman has been minimal, and he has certainly written the codex on gatecrasher operations, but frankly, is he ready to command an entire military force? Is he ready to command every gate-certified Marine?"

Carter didn't hesitate, "yes"

Peters nodded, accepting the formers Tok'ras judgement, "fine... then its decided. Now, we just need to get the politicians agree"

O'Neill grimaced, his experiences with politicians were hardly the best, "Well, I have a few ideas about that..."


	14. Thirteen

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 13 

_"The war in France took a darker turn today when citizens of that beleaguered city were shot attempting to suicide bomb the approaching German tanks. The tank column lost seven units and was forced to withdraw under the cover of their supporting infantry. _

_Earlier today, fighters enforcing the no-fly zone over the city were fired out by what have been described as advanced anti-air batteries' and were forced to leave the airspace over the city, allowing the cultist forces complete freedom of the air within that zone. This has been described as a real blow to the efforts to retake the city and liberate its mind-controlled citizens"_

_xxxx _

_"The UN was declared ineffective and anachronistic' today as representatives from a number of nations, including Britain and Germany, walked out, citing the continued attempts to force UN control of the space war. It is known at this time that Britain has recalled all its assets involved in UN operations and several other nations are expected to follow. _

_The British Ambassador to the UN has been quick to state that If the UN would get off their arses and realise that they are a humanitarian and peace organisation, and that they can not negotiate a peace with the Goa'uld or Cylons then there would not be as large a problem. But, they do not seem to realise that they are dealing with entirely alien mindsets and that, unlike on Earth, they do not have the advantage of technology or numbers to force a peace' _

_The effect of this shift of power away from the UN has yet to be seen, but the sheer volume of Aid being distributed by that agency at this time means that the withdrawal of just one more member state is likely to be a crippling blow"_

_xxxx _

_"In a ceremony at Thundersdawn station today, the RSS Defiant, a Dauntless II class warship was transferred to the Command of an Allied leader, the Goa'uld Queen Enerina and launched from Slip 6 for its proving trials. These trials are expected to last two weeks before the vessel is declared fully operational. _

_The Merchant class Fleet Auxiliary Sir Lancelot was also launched during the ceremony."_

_xxxx _

_"In a statement released by RSS command earlier today, it was confirmed that the station, known only as Edonia, had started construction on a second Britannica class warship, the United Kingdom. Three vessels have so far been confirmed, the third, the President Kennedy is stated as being waiting on the results of Britannica's proving trials when she launches sometime in the next few months' _

_The Britannica class Battlecruisers are currently the largest warship class being built by the RSS and SGC Commands"_

_xxxx _

_"Rumours of a mutiny aboard the RSS warship Invincible during the cylon assaults on earth were vigorously denied by RSS Command today despite a large body of circumstantial evidence to the contrary. _

_This comes as Invincible sits in orbit near Thundersdawn station under repairs for what several sources have described as internal damage consistent with a gunfight aboard ship'"_

_xxxx _

_"Unconfirmed reports indicate that the Babylon Station, currently under construction in Alliance space has come under heavy attack within the last week and may have been destroyed by Anubis's forces. This news comes as a large number of Royal Space Service and Stargate Command warships return from Alliance space after their long deployment for repairs and leave. _

_The vessels that have returned are the General Hammond, the Stingray, the Yorktown and the Gettysburg. They are being replaced by the Independence, the Indomitable and Interrogator. Prometheus, Stargate Commands flagship vessel is still inside alliance space, as are the captured Ha'taks Valour's Vengeance and Valour's Sword"_

_xxxx _

_"The Ambassador from the Free Jaffa Nation, Teal'c has confirmed in a public statement today that the Free Jaffa were investigating the possibility of buying vessels of the MTB and MGB classes to boast their flagging navy which, although large, is lagging behind their immediate enemies, Anubis and Maktenos technology wise. The refit of several Ha'taks for the Free Jaffa by Ravenbright station is one of their measures which has already been confirmed by the Free Jaffa and Ravenbright Station and which is currently only waiting on slip space at that station"_

_xxxx _

_"The British Prime Minister admitted today that any effort to clean the Exeter Exclusion Zone of the radiation left by the Cylon Dirty' device would almost certainly result in an expensive failure. This unwelcome, if expected news comes as the exclusion zone is expanded further off-shore as continued heavy rains wash dangerous amounts of radiation into the sea. _

_At this point in time, the Prime Minister is said to be urging the RSS to ask our allies for assistance, in particular, for aid from a race called the Asgard"_

_xxxx _

Damn them.

Damn them to hell.

Fine, so his tools betrayed them, at least they had learnt the penalty for betrayal. The Terakens did good work after all, the only few that survive are offworld, living in constant fear and that will have to be enough. The Terakens say they can't get them there... yet.

Still, it makes my vengeance far harder. They can not be broken so easily by the press now. I may have to make this personal, and that, that will take more effort, more risk.

Still, it will be worth it for what they did to my daughter. For that, they will be broken before they die.

So, it's decided. Now, I have to plan.

And I will need some more useful tools


	15. Fourteen

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 14 

He hated working with fanatics, they were too stupid to realise how they were little more then tools and occasionally had delusions of thinking he owed them, or that they controlled him.

It was annoying, but what could you do except replace the tool?

In this case however, replacing the tool might not be enough; in this case he was, for the first time, truly scared. His tenuous control over theseidiots always rested on the fact that doing Allah's work was expensive and so long as he made that expense vanish he had his control over these simpletons. But now, he had to announce to these fanatics that he no-longer had enough money to continue to support them.

Of course, he did have just one point that might keep him alive, after all it wasn't exactly a secret

"Those Godless unholy Yankees!"

The tool was unshaven, unkempt in appearance and his eyes seemed to glow malevolently red as hatred and fanatism radiated from the man.

"How much how much can you spare for a campaign to show these godless infidels who is truly the superior race?"

The man considered it, "not much... my money came from oil and it was the Americans who bought that"

"Fitting that their own greed should be used to fund their downfall" the tool sneered, and he nodded tightly, making a mental note that if the tool survived, he should be punished for daring to interrupt him.

"The blockade on the oil has failed to force the Yankess to bow down, and allow us to assume our rightful place as the bearers of Gods words amongst the stars and now, my reserves of cash are almost at an end"

"Okay...okay... give us what you can, quickly!" he resisted the urge to lean away as the tool began to sport a maniacal insane grin, "and we will make these Yankees bow down. In the name of Allah, we will see to it that the Imperialists and their unholy ways are ended once and for all"

"I shall transfer five million American dollars to the usual accounts as soon as I can contact my account" he bowed slightly, turning to leave, but his tool wasn't finished.

"All of it... you will transfer all of your funds to our accounts you Sunni dog!" annoyed the man turned around, and then took an involuntary step backwards as the hulking, brutish form that had suddenly appeared beside his tool, "Allah has provided us with many tools with which to punish the infidel and these demons are just one of them. You have forgotten your place, you are our fundraiser, you are our tool and you have treated us like we were the tool. Do not think us so stupid as not to have noticed yes, my friend here will 'assist' you in acquiring us the funds we need. You disobey and he will send your soul straight to Allah's Judgement!"

The man tore his eyes from the red skinned, maliciously grinning form of the demon and looked at the fanatic a little fearful. They were the tools, not him! Where had this all got so twisted around?

And how was he to survive this?

xxxx

"They push at the cities boundaries everyday" Général de division Leftcourt spoke "we are causing massive casualties amongst their forces, but in time they will win. They control the munitions factories after all, not to mention all the rest of the supplies we need. Whilst the small number of staffs and larger weapons you have been gracious enough to send have made a very real difference, we now control the skies over Paris after all, it's not enough"

Leftcourt sighed, grimacing slightly as the headache that refused to go away, to give him some relief, but once more, he pushed the pain to one side and like a good general should, got on with the job, "My Lord, I serve you faithfully as always and I will do my best to carry out your wishes but I need support! This nish'ta variant you are supplying us with keeps us supplied with warm bodies for the front but we are running out of supplies and out of time"

The dark cloaked figure shown by the small sphere showed no reaction at all as the General spoke, and it wasn't until Leftcourt finished that the being spoke, "you forget your place"

Leftcourt resisted the urge to whimper, but even so, he was forced to wipe his now sweaty palms against his fatigues, but the figure hadn't finished, "I wanted chaos on Earth, I wanted division and I wanted then to distracted by internal threats to worry about us, leaving them ripe for assault. so far you have failed me in that"

Leftcourt started to speak but the being raised his hand, and wisely, he slammed his mouth shut and waited, "but I never expected one such as you to succeed, you were merely the distraction, visible and threatening, and you brought forces to my side, loyal trained soldiers who serve without losing their minds to the nish'ta. Now, you will prepare those soldiers to move, I will send transportation for them and yourself, and you will make sure the city resists with every breath the retaking of Paris, and you must make sure they don't learn that you have left, is that understood?"

"Of Course, my Lord" Leftcourt bowed, knowing that the transmitter would pick up the movement and with a final word from the globe, it went blank, silent.

"Do not disappoint me"

Leftcourt grimaced; it seemed he had a resistance to organise, and an evacuation to prepare. Well, at least the bulk of his staff were loyal to him and were not under the influence of the nish'ta... damned stuff seemed to drop 100 points of everyone's IQ. Pity he had been forced to use it on his otherwise extremely capable second in command

xxxx

The two assassins glided away into the night, and with a shudder, the man slipped away through the streets. He hated working with the order, but they were the best out there, even if they did use supernatural means to achieve their goals. Still, they had no problems being used as tools so long as they were well paid and that made up for a lot of their deficiencies, such as their sheer arrogance.

Still, that was only a small part of the plan. He didn't want to defeat his enemies after all, he wanted to _break _ them.

Nothing else would do, nothing else would even come close to what they had allowed to happen to his beautiful, happy daughter.

He had many more pieces to move into place before that day though.

Then he would have his peace, have his control and he would _make _ them save his daughter, whatever the cost.

xxxx

"Oh, Good Lord"

"Okay, haven't heard one of those in a while, anything apocalyptic to worry about?"

Giles sighed, the glasses in his hands once again receiving a quick clean as he spoke, "I'm afraid there appears to be a prophecy"

"No worries" Buffy shrugged, "always finding new prophecies and not one has been set post-Sunnydale"

Giles grimaced, "I'm afraid this one is active... and it's apocalyptic"

Buffy sighed, dropping her coke onto the table, "crap"

Giles sighed, reaching for the phone, "Indeed"

xxxx

"We have a clear case for imposing sanctions, just for the manner in which they left the UN. Totally in violation of all the established procedures, then we have their illegal deployment of weapons in space, the initiation of a space war, failure to bring us into negotiate a peace and blatant lying to official agencies"

"Lying?" The second asked, his eyebrow raised.

The first snorted, "An enemy that can not be negotiated with? Please, you know as well as I do that there is no such thing. And to say that the Great Pyramids were built as landing platforms for alien warships? Preposterous!"

Second nodded, agreeing, "They cannot be trusted with such power as they now have at their disposal"

First frowned, the look distorting her otherwise pretty and elfin face, "they can not, but nobody had yet managed to force them to see this, and they certainly are not going to give up such awesome power willingly"

"Sanctions will be a start" Second sighed, his hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee, "but I doubt it will be enough, they can _force _ the removal of sanctions right now. After all, they have orbital bombardment capabilities"

"And those that have weapons inevitably use them" First commented.

"How many units do we still have?"

"Not enough... but then, they are distracted with the war against France" First mused, "We could always promise the new French Government legitimacy in exchange for assistance against the rogue nations"

"Do you really think the stories of Alien control of Paris and mind control use are true?" Second asked, already knowing the answer.

"Of course not, they just wanted an excuse to invade, they probably arranged the collapse of the government too, warmongers" First commented, disgusted.

Second nodded, "you're most likely correct, my sources within the capital certainly agree with you and frankly I trust them more then I do Britain and America right now"

First nodded, "okay, so who do we send to make contact?"


	16. Fifteen

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 15 

_"To: Initiative (ALL), POTUS, PMOUK, SAS division 13 (ALL), Slayers (ALL), Watchers (ALL Slayer Division) _

_Copy: Joe Dawson (The Watchers) _

_From: Giles (Joint Head, Council Of Watchers)  
_

___RE: Apocalypse Prophecy _

___Okay, I am well aware that this is most likely the worst time possible for such an event but I am afraid I have to issue an Apocalypse warning. Whilst searching through the archives, I came across a prophecy which on closer inspection turned out to be Active. This as you know is the first time since the destruction of the Sunnydale Hellmouth that an active prophecy has been discovered. _

___We are currently focusing all our efforts on translation and cross-referencing but at this time we are expecting a battle for control of one, possibly two of the dormant hellmouths London, Cleveland, East Africa **within the month. **_

___Details are uncertain, but there appear to be references to Worshippers of a dark starcount' and fallen of the worshipful' Cross-referencing tentatively identifies the first as Followers Of Count Iblis, a known agent of Anubis. The second is still unknown. _

___Based on what we know so far, I **require **that all plans for defence/capture/containment of these dormant hellmouths be dusted off and updated in preparation for potential mobilization. _

___Note that the council teams on each Hellmouth are already in the process of being reinforced, but we are being forced to strip several urban areas to do this. _

___I will keep you informed as we learn more._

___Rupert Giles  
Co-head Reformed Council Of Watchers  
Head of Research, Reformed Council of Watchers"_

___xxxx _

Second frowned, First was telling him everything he wanted to hear but something was... off. It had been since she had returned from meeting the General commanding the resistance forces in France. Like... well, it was almost like she had developed a subtlecontempt for everyone and everything whilst she was gone.

Strange, but she knew too much, had correctly answered all his careful probing questions, it was certainly her. Not that it mattered, he and First had been busy talking to those members of the UN who hadn't abandoned the Peace-broking organisation in favour of blatant expansionism and imperialism and sanctions were now in force. Those nations who supported the Royal Space Service or Stargate Command could no longer trade with any member of the UN. They would feelthat he had little doubt.

And soon, they would feel it even more. Already, those units still seconded to the UN were loading onto aircraft and being airlifted to Italy, the Nation closest to France that hadn't fallen under the sway of the traitors were, joined by several Italian regiments, they would move into France and link up with the Resistance forces. Hopefully, the Imperialists would see the error of their ways and allow France to determine its own future, but he doubted that.

They would have to force them out of France, impose order and stability and when that was done; they would be in a much stronger position to put control of Space where it belonged, in the hands of the UN. Those warships would go for a start, they weren't needed, despite the propaganda they were so eager to spread, he knew there was no great enemy in space, if they had made any of the Alien races hostile to earth, why then it wouldn't be difficult to negotiate peace, not with the offending individuals stripped for power.

Still... he would much preferred it if their Airlift could drop the UN forces in Belgium, but whilst they might voice their support for the efforts to return France to its rightful place as a sovereign nation, they were surrounded by Germany, the Netherlands and worse, the United Kingdom, all of which had either pledged their allegiance to the Royal Space Service or were seriously considering doing so. They couldn't enter the fight, not whilst they were still surrounded by such powerful rogue nations, he could understand that.

He was just glad that First had managed to get the Ambassador from Belgium to see reason, to persuade him to bring Belgium back into the UN camp. He didn't know how she had managed it, but he was grateful.

It was all in place now, all he had to do was sit back and watch, and pray that too many lives weren't lost fighting for peace.

"You have done well" an alarm sounded at the back of Seconds mind at her tone, but he ignored it.

"We will see... France still hasn't been liberated and the warmongers still control space based weapons systems. As soon as those issues are dealt with, then we will know if we have done well"

She laughed, evilly, her tone becoming doubled and harsh.

"You fool! I don't care about the Tau'ri navies, I don't care even for liberation, my master wants chaos and you have been a most useful tool in delivering that"

Second slammed upright in his seat, frowning, annoyed, 2this isn't funny, just drop the bullshit now and we will forget this ever happened okay?"

"She can hear you you know" First growled cruelly, "and pathetically as ever, she cries out for help, for you to end her misery, for you to endme, for you to recognise me for what I truly am on your own"

She shrugged, dismissively, "she still has hope, she still believes she can be woken from the nightmare she has been in ever since she arrived in Paris"

The thing that wasn't First sneered, "pathetic, but I still have need of this body"

She turned her gaze fully to him, and second shuddered, a chill running through him at her expression, "and I have need of yours"

He felt a sting at the back of his head and for a second, just a second he blanked out. Then, second screamed, loudly, harshly as his body rose to its feet, his mouth worked, his hands moved, all under the control of the snake within his mind.

xxxx

__"My Lord, my agents have managed to secure a full four regiments for our use. They approach the city even now, expecting welcome, expecting to find" Leftcourt sneered, "Freedom Fighters... They will need to be Nish'ta'd before they can serve your grace but I thought the chance for four additional regiments was worth the depletion of the Nish'ta stocks"

The dark, cloaked figure in the vo'cume nodded slightly, and careful to hide his relief, Leftcourt continued, "we will of course need additional transports out of the city and more Nish'ta would be most welcome"

The darkened figure seemed to smile, and Leftcourt hid a grin, he had pleased his master, a real first, "I will send the last of my Nish'ta stocks to you, donot expect any more"

Leftcourt nodded acknowledgement and the figure continued, "as far as the additional forces go, leave two regiments inside the city. The rest I can transport. You have done well, continue to do so, and you will have the reward you asked for. Fail me..."

Leftcourt shook off a chill as the figure vanished from the screen, he knew that threat didn't need to be voice, he knew exactly what that one meant. He would just have to keep his end of the bargain, and that meant somehow getting the four UN controlled regiments inside the city and into the large square rigged with the Nish'ta sprayers before they realised what was wrong. An interesting task, but that was why he was a field General, not a paper-pusher, he could deal with the challenge.

Not that he had much choice.


	17. Chapter 16

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

Right, considering that is still chewing up these chapters, despite numerous emails, dont be too surprised at all if you find mistakes.Its bad enough that i have to re-add every " manually, but for to turn every from to wrom and turn whatever follows into meaningless garbage...  
this site is getting beyond a joke.

thank you reviewers, greyangle, wbh21c

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 16 

_To: PDF (Sol), Picket (Sol)  
__Copy: Ravenbright Actual, Thompson, Potus, Pmouk  
From: Thundersdawn Actual  
__Priority: Critique Flash  
__Subject: DEFCON ONE_

_Sensors now indicate a HIGH PROBABILITY of stealthed vessels being present within Earths atmosphere. Confirmation and lock-on is being blocked by high levels of radiation still present in orbit, this appears to be part of the unknowns strategy as there are indications said stealthed vessels are hiding inside the Exeter Exclusion Zone where sensor lock-on is extremely difficult. _

_A search is currently underway by atmospheric and space fighters. _

_Due to this, all defensive units are ordered to DEFCON ONE until further notice. _

_Commodore Peters  
Commander, Thundersdawn Station  
Commander, Sol Defense _

* * *

_To: Stargate Command, Homeworld Security  
Copy: Potus  
__From: Jack Ryan CIA  
Priority: Flash Traffic  
Subject: Security Alert _

_Restricted Intel assets including HumInt and Elint are indicating a HIGH PROBABILITY that renegade reporter Pierce is gathering forces for an assault on the Cheyenne Mountain Complex with intent to seize the Stargate. _

_He is known to have hired several mercenary companies and at least twelve assassins Order of Teraka. _

_A courier is en-route with briefing packages, for now an increased security presence is highly recommended._

_Jack Ryan  
Director, CIA_

* * *

_To: Giles (Council of Watchers)  
__Copy: Buffy (Council of Watchers)  
__From: Encrypted  
__Priority: One  
Subject: Visions _

_Okay, latest vision number one places a massive battle on the outskirts of a major city between a mixed demon/human force and what appears to have been a human force, quite possibly an army unit, they were certainly dressed for it but I did not see any unit marking clear enough to ID the unit. _

_I do not recognise the city, but the cars were driving on the left as the vision started, before the battle began._

_Second battle was again humans/demons versus a possible military unit. This time however both sets of humans wore military uniforms and the group with the demons either had access to magic users or had advanced technology. No cities, identifying landmarks but general impression was of a location inside Africa. _

_Further details attached._

_Giles please let me know soonest if you think you may require the well, if you think you may need our help. I would rather have us revealed to the governments as you have been then have the world end because you were trying to keep us safe. _

_I.D. String Encrypted _

* * *

_To: Initiative (ALL), POTUS, PMOUK, SAS division 13 (ALL), Slayers (ALL), Watchers (ALL Slayer Division  
__Copy: Joe Dawson (The Watchers)  
__From: Giles (Reformed Council of Watchers)  
__Subject: RE: Apocalypse Prophecy_

_We have a potential I.D on the hellmouths currently threatened with opening and I am afraid to announce that the plural is intentional. A seer I am in contact with has had a vision identifying both the LONDON and AFRICAN hellmouths as being probable targets. _

_We are cross-referencing this additional information now but the source in question is very reliable. _

_Unfortunately, the seer did indicate that we could potentially face trained and armed opposition at the African Hellmouth, which is a problem as this is the most vulnerable of the mouths, little infrastructure exists around the region where the hellmouth is. _

_We need to start discussing plans in detail, please send your liaisons and soon. _

_Rupert Giles  
Co-head Reformed Council of Watchers  
Head of Research, Reformed Council of Watchers _

* * *

_To: General Addler, Operation Liberty  
__From: XXXX NSA __Subject: UN compromised _

_Signal intercepts confirm that the three UN Regiments sent into Paris, along with the single Italian Regiment are No-longer in contact with their command chains. The Italians are practically screaming for their unit to make contact, but the UN is not and their has been a radical shift in the profile of the orders being sent out by both the UN Director of Operations and Director off Deployments despite these positions not having shifted hands. _

_Remote observation has confirmed subtle changes in the behavioural patterns of both individuals, at this moment; we consider them to be COMPROMISED. _

_You are strongly advised to treat any UN activity in your area of operations accordingly. _

_Restricted  
NSA _

_Relayed-Officer in the field (France) _


	18. Chapter 17

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 17 

_Anxious and fearful, that's the mood in Colorado Springs today as, for the first time in two weeks, the 3 rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment has deployed from its Fort Carson base and joined infantry from the 1 st Battalion in guarding Stargate Command. The reason for this heightened state of alert is unknown but rumours suggest that an attack on the mountain by ground forces is anticipated _

* * *

_Outrage then silence from congress today as President Hayes confirmed the redeployment of several Army Units from several major cities to Africa and strangely enough, Cleveland. The reason for these deployments is unclear but it has caused widespread concern as these units were about to be stepped down from Police duties. So far, there have been no significant incidents in Cleveland raising the question of why the garrison is being reinforced when Cleveland should no longer be under martial law. _

_Further details coming in the British Prime Minister has now confirmed the deployment of troops to a classified location inside Africa. He hasn't said where these units are deployed but his comment that they would be joining American units is telling. _

_This now means that every single fighting unit in the Royal Army has now been deployed, a point which must make the government and the Ministry of Defence very nervous _

* * *

_A sigh of relief today as RSS and Stargate Commands both made the final step down to Defcon 4, the normal defence condition under which these commands operate. This is held as a clear sign that both commands believe the immediate threat from the cylons who caused so much damage over the last few months has, for the moment at least, disappeared. _

_But when will they return again and will we be ready to face them? _

_This question remains unanswered but with defence contractors in the eight space nations rigging up to produce the anticipated network of defence satellites, we can only hope that we are given time enough _

* * *

_Heavy fighting occurred around Rouen today as traitor units allied to the Goa'uld attempt to cut several allied military units from their supply lines, running from the British controlled coastal city of Le Havre. The attackers were rebuffed, but not before causing heavy casualties amongst several German and British units. _

_At this point in time, the allied units are calling desperately for an antidote to the new variant of the mind control drug Nish'ta being used by the Goa'uld which can be mass deployed, preferably as an airburst. Previous attempts to free the Nish'ta'd citizens of Paris, being used as shock troops by the traitors has proven unsuccessful and impractical. _

_This comes as the western half of the city of Reims was evacuated by loyalist French units anticipating an attack on the city _

* * *

_In a bold move yesterday, the Secretary General of the UN has ordered the arrest of several high level diplomats for sabotage of the UN, its purpose and operations' _

_The right of the Secretary General to order arrests within his organisation whilst being described as a legal quagmire' hasn't yet been challenged and isn't likely to be after it was confirmed that at least two of the arrested were now hosts to Goa'uld parasites. _

_In the early hours of this morning, a motion was also tabled to Reform the UN to promote world peace and unity, so that we can provide a united front with which to defend the Earth'. This motion was rejected after heated debate despite being accepted in principle by most member nations. _

_This, coming as confidence in the United Nations reaches an all time low just emphasises the divisions and petty squabbling currently present within the organisation. _

_So far, ten nations have officially withdrawn including Britain, Germany and America and fifteen more have recalled their diplomats. A further sixteen members have replaced their representatives to the United Nations, five of these replaced representatives have been executed by their respective governments _

* * *

_The cost of nuclear disarmament rocketed down today as the Royal Space Service confirmed that it was looking to acquire all devices subject to decommissioning and was asking a mere one million pounds per device. Greenpeace is said to be extremely happy' that the waste from such devices would no longer pollute the Earth after the RSS confirmed these devices would be modified to include improved sensors and control system prior to deployment as part of a minefield well outside of Earths orbit _

* * *

_The Prime Minister confirmed today that an Asgard Beliskner class vessel had arrived briefly in the sol system to survey the ever expanding Exeter Exclusion Zone to assess the possibility of using advanced Asgard technology to clean the radioactive materials left by the Cylon dirty' device. _

_The result of this survey is unknown but the Prime Minster was quick to caution the public that given the depleted nature of the Asgard race and resources, assistance may be some time in coming. _

_The vessel was escorted whilst in system by Stargate Command warship USS Yorktown _

* * *

_Stargate Command and the Royal Space Service today confirmed they had a commitment to build a defensive outpost on the borders of Aschen space to support local allies'. This comes as video footage of an Aschen assault on the Alpha Centauri system were released yesterday, showing a battle in which several warships belonging to these agencies was lost in defence of the system. _

_The identity of the allies has not been released but sources within Stargate Command indicated that funding would delay the construction, leaving the allies extremely vulnerable. Funding was allocated, but this was diverted to construction of the Gaia Station in Earth orbit following the Cylon attacks. _

_At this point in time, the only Earth warship deployed to this area is the Ha'tak Dawn of Justice, the other vessels having been recalled to assist with system defence or for repairs _

* * *

_The Royal Space Service confirmed today that 617 Squadron Royal Air Force had been chosen to retrain and reform as 617 Squadron Royal Space Service, and would become the second squadron to fly the Striker Attack Fighters developed by the Royal Space Service in conjunction with Stargate Command. _

_617 is currently one of the most famous squadrons flying, having been formed on 21 st March 1943 specifically to destroy the Mohne and Eder dams during the famous Dambuster raid_

* * *

_Despite continued rumours, Stargate Command has yet to release an official statement on the future of the 5th Starfighter Wing, the Black Nights which was destroyed to the last man during the first attack by the Drakh on Earth units inside Alliance space. Currently the common belief is that the name will not be retired and that the squadron will be reformed _


	19. Chapter 18

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 18 African Exclusion Zone, Land Seized by Joint US/UK Task Force 

"Sir, we have a problem"

Rasczak grimaced,"Of course we have a problem, we illegally invaded a sovereign nation, albeit one whose power can best be described as anaemic, our supply chain is so long it's frankly scary and we are here to fight demons with troops who until yesterday didn't know such beings existed and are still looking at us like we have totally lost it. So, which particular problem are you talking about?"

"Oh, Carl" wryly grinned at his Commanding Officer, "just the large army gathering in the mountains, about fifteen miles away. Mixed bag of demons and humans, the humans are definitely armed and according to the Ranger who spotted them, look like fanatics"

"Ahh," Rasczak rolled his eyes, 2Business arriving early, new problem..."

**London Exclusion Zone, Royal Army Controlled**

_"Fire Mission! Grid 10-12, Troops and armoured transports" _

"Roger your fire mission," Colonel Harris grinned, eagerly awaiting the chance to use his toys for real, to show the Goa'uld exactly how much damage a battery of artillery could do, "can you sight?"

_"That's affirm, ready to live up to your code name, sledgehammer?" _

Harris chuckled, his eyes gleaming with malicious devilry, "Oh, I'm sure we'll try our best "

He clicked the radio to the regimental frequency, "Hammer six, ranging shot on grid 10-12, all other Hammers stand ready"

A muffled rumble sounded outside his Warrior Battery Commanders Vehicle, and Harris smiled, smiled, the 3 rd Royal Horse Artillery had joined the battle for London at last.

* * *

Grimly, Colour Sergeant Lucien SBS held his binoculars close to his face, his eyes sighted on the massive troop ship disgorging its load in the shallow valley beneath him. He hoped his camouflage held, it would be annoying to die three weeks _after _ he was supposed to retire, but his sense of duty had meant he couldn't leave whilst Britain had so much need of him, assuming he was even allowed to retire with all the brown and sticky stuff that had been hitting the fan. 

A roaring, whistling sounded above his head and knowing he was hearing his artillery inbound he let himself go loose, limp, the better to survive any possible shockwaves should the shot land to close for comfort.

He raised an eyebrow as he spotted where the shot had landed, that was pretty close for a weapon fired about twenty eight kilometres away...

"Over! Fifteen, One-five metres"

_"Copy" _

Lucien stifled a mirthless chuckle as the Jaffa charged towards the source of the explosion, and then he frowned, spotting figures in camo diving out of the troopship, and beginning to set up a more professional perimeter watch. He shifted his glasses across, taking a closer look and cursed.

Flicking radio frequencies, he began to alert the world, "Lucien at 10-12, be advised traitor French units now deploying from the Goa'uld troopship, markings suggest they are from the 3ème Brigade Mécanisé, I am currently sighting for arty, please advise"

He flicked his radio again swiftly as a second artillery shot landed, "Hit! Fire for effect"

_"Roger your last, can you please confirm traitor French units on the ground at 10-12?" _

Lucien flicked the radio again, taking a serious look around the valley, before grimacing, annoyed, "I can confirm that, now have APCs deploying from the troopship, and artillery has targets sighted..."

A roaring, whistling sounded over his head once more, amplified and it didn't escape Lucien's notice that whilst the Jaffa seemed to have little idea what was actually going on, the soldiers had dived straight for whatever cover they could find, regardless how flimsy. Nor did it escape his notice that those on the periphery of the hell that was being unleashed were looking very closely for whoever was sighting for the artillery.

"Hostiles now under heavy artillery fire, The Jaffa appear to be breaking, but the French units are responding in a trained manner"

That alone was another nail in the coffin; Command had to see the truth of what he was seeing now.

Lucien stiffened, then slowly began edging back from his position, "I'm rumbled, extracting now"

_"Copy that, a Canberra is being diverted to assume spotting duties" _

Lucien didn't hear, afraid of the radio being overheard he had switched it off. He had far more important things on his mind then wondering what Command was doing.

**Colorado Exclusion Zone; Centred Around Cheyenne Mountain.**

_"Post sixteen, report please" _

_"Post sixteen, report please" _

_"Post seventeen, could you please make a visual check on sixteen" _

_"Seventeen? Report please" _

_"All posts, report in by the numbers please" _

* * *

"Sir," Harriman walked up to General Carter nervously, "we have a problem" 

Sighing, the General placed his cup of coffee down on the table, "what's gone wrong this time?"

"We've lost contact with ten posts on the outer perimeter"

Jacob grimaced, "button up the mountain, and bring the regiments to full alert. Ten posts don't vanish; we've got hostiles inside the perimeter"

"Aye sir" Harriman turned, walking swiftly to carry out the Generals orders.

* * *

Puzzled, Carter walked swiftly from his office towards the main control room, it wasn't like Harriman to take this long to carry out his orders, it wasn't like him at all 

His foot slipped on the steps and Carter grimaced at the small pool of blood, fresh blood that was spilling down the steps, he glanced around, knowing what he would find. Then he glanced up, stapled to the roof above him was Harriman, a shocked expression now permanently etched into his face.

Shouting the intruder alert, General Carter dived back into his office for his sidearm.


	20. Chapter 19

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter 19 

_Martial law remains in force today in several areas as army units forcibly disperse protestors calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Africa and what appears to be an undeclared war on several nations in the region. The reason for this invasion has not yet been revealed, but the addition of British troops has raised eyebrows. Both nations are the primary force behind the space fleet _

* * *

_A complete news black-out is in force around London today as reports begin to seep out of massive fighting between army units and suspected Goa'uld ground forces which may include several traitor French regiments. At this point in time, an area 60 miles across has been sealed off at the northern edge of the city and in the surrounding countryside, and artillery fire and large explosions can clearly be heard within the sealed region, never less there has been no official confirmation that a battle is even taking place, let alone the identity of the opposing force. _

_Military analysts are reported to be worried' about the number of regiments currently deployed to the region, stating that if the hostiles staged a breakout, there would be nothing left to find and destroy them. This comes as increased fighting around the French capital has forced the withdrawal of at least one British regiment with what is described as crippling casualties'. _

_The Royal Army is currently committed to maintaining law and order in several cities, the retaking of Paris, the fight around London and at least two regiments have deployed to Africa, there are no regiments currently available for deployment or reinforcement. _

_No response has yet been received to demands that the Prime Minister recall the army from Africa and France to assist with home defence _

* * *

_A government spokesperson has today confirmed that the Royal Family and the senior cabinet members had been evacuated from London to an undisclosed location, questions on the reason for this evacuation were not answered, yet we can safely surmise that the rumoured' fighting around the city has forced this evacuation _

* * *

_Massive fighting has erupted around the headquarters of Stargate Command at Cheyenne Mountain today as an as yet unidentified force has attempted to seize control of the complex. Fighting is ongoing at this time, but casualties are said to be very high, a source within the Pentagon has stated that the attacking force managed to take the defenders by surprise, killing several squads before they even realised an attack was underway. _

_We have also received reports that there had been an attack on the nearby Colorado Springs Air Force Academy where the bulk of the air units assigned to the mountain were stationed. No details as yet, but we have received sketchy reports that several fighters and helicopters can clearly be seen burning from the base perimeter _

* * *

_Breaking news at this time, its now confirmed that the Air Force Academy at Colorado springs has come under heavy attack, a news van from CNN recorded these images of the base being strafed by an old Starfighter before the van was destroyed. We warn you that some viewers will find the following scenes disturbing _

* * *

_To: POTUS, Hammond HWS, Thompson RSS  
__From: automatedSGC  
__Priority: CRITIQUE FLASH  
__Re: BRIGHT BOY ALERT _

_Base Self-Destruct Activated 14:13 on 12/12/2012 by General Carter SGC CO, Colonel Henderson CO SG-14, Master-Sergeant Siler Base Support _

_Estimated Detonation Time: 14:23 12/12/2012  
__Alerts running at time of Self-Destruct Activation: Intruder Alert, Foothold Alert, HST on base, _

_: This is an automated message. Do Not Reply : _

_: Message contacts are the responsibility of the sender and may not reflect the views and opinions of Stargate Command, the US Air Force or the US Government :_

_: Message Ends : _

**Colorado Exclusion Zone; Centred Around Cheyenne Mountain.**

_"Roger that control" _

Iceman flicked the radio off, thought about it calmly and coolly for a second, then... "Shit!"

He flicked the radio back on, "Okay, for the benefit of anyone who wasn't paying attention, Stargate Command is under heavy attack and whoever is behind it, was smart enough to take out the local Air Support first. There are twelve, one-two hostile fighters over the base, a mix of Starfighters, Crusaders and at least two Tom-cats. We have been ordered to take these arseholes down, and then provide ground support if possible. Any questions?2

"Any news on casualties? Or for that matter, fuel, my tanks looking a little low for ACM"

Iceman grimaced, "no news, but it safe to guess the base is out. Sundown, get on the horn and call up a tanker, we will need fuel as soon as we've finished these guys off. Our little ferry flight just became real"

"Right Iceman"

He flicked his eyes over the consoles and screens, his practised if aged for a fighter pilot eyes quickly taking every detail in. Nodding, he moved his hand, the movement translating down the stick into the aircraft, diverting its course swiftly towards the embattled base. His other hand moved, just as much as it needed to, a perfect economy of effort that made the fighter speed up, more fuel being pumped into its turbofans.

"Phoenix range in two minutes"

"Copy," Iceman gave a deep shuddering breathe, Christ but it had been quite a few years since he last saw actual for real combat operations, he hoped, he truly hoped he still had it, "eyes to the cameras people, we've got just one phoenix each so lets make damn sure it counts"

"We got word on any friendlys in the air?"

Iceman shook his head, "Negative, so check your IDs by camera, don't rely on the radar"

"Ice, I have a lock, Crusader up high, looks like a cap"

Iceman smiled, "good, hold the lock till we have confirmation from the rest of our half-squadron, then we will fire en-masse, copy?"

"You're the pilot"

Iceman smiled, hearing the shrug in his Rear Intercept Officers (RIO) voice, "that I am"

"This is Dancecard, I Have lock2

"Wraith, I have lock"

"Tiger has lock"

"Shard, he's targeted"

"Javelin... no lock, cameras not responding"

Iceman grimaced, one missile down and they only had six to begin with. They didn't need to be outnumbered going into this fight, they didn't after all know how good their opponent was, the quality of the aircraft was secondary to the man in the machine. He had figured that out a long time ago, hell, Maverick had shown him tht, as had Iron Eagle. Lucky gits... both were flying _Lancers _ nowadays, even if Maverick was an instructor, not a combat pilot. Then again, they were both getting to old for this shit.

"Javelin, double up on my target, Sundance, transfer the targeting data"

Iceman waited, anxiously. They were getting close, if the hostiles were any good they would spot them soon, his guys should have fired already, if they were frontline pilots, they would have already. But they weren't, and neither was he anymore.

Then, he had his confirmation and Iceman let out a breath he didn't even realise he was holding, "fire on my mark... 3, 2, 1, mark!"

He closed his eyes, as always, not wanting spots on his vision from the light of the missile launch, but flicked them open swiftly after. Closed eyes in combat weren't a good thing.

He slammed the throttle forward, the massive engines making the airframe rumble around him as his fighter hopelessly chased after the phoenix missiles as they raced towards their targets, to deliver their payload of death.

He didn't know who spotted the missile first, and didn't really care, they noticed too late and he knew for definite that despite their wild manoeuvring, somebody was about to die.

Iceman noted with disgust that the lone Crusader on its Cap despite having two missiles flashing towards it had managed to survive, somehow, both missiles prematurely detonating. Three other blips vanished from his display, making two missiles per kill, not good for a long range phoenix strike which had the element of surprise, and the enemy knew they were there now.

Still didn't know where they were, but they knew there were hostile aircraft in the area. Iceman frowned a moment at his radar display, then grinned, maliciously. Correction, if he was to judge by the four aircraft that appeared to be doing a low level search, he would guess they thought they had been hit by SAMs.

Confusion, the greatest ally and greatest enemy in warfare, this time at least it seemed to be working for him instead of against.

Then, they hit sparrow range.

With Radar lock alarms no doubt blaring in their ears, the hostile fighters scattered, most not maintaining any kind of unit cohesion, a fact which Iceman was more delighted to capitalise upon.

Two hostile fighters, both Starfighters fell to the Sparrows before the F-14s hit ACM range and the sidewinders came into play, unfortunately the surviving pilots by normal Darwinist selection were the dangerous ones, and Iceman was chilled to recognise the training and moves displayed by the pilots, several of which were straight out of the Top Gun manual.

That meant his six ferry pilots and their F-14s were facing off against two F-14s, two Starfighters and the sole surviving Crusader.

Swiftly, he gave his orders and Javelin and Shard sped off to deal with the Crusader, Tiger and Wraith the two Starfighters, the F-14s he reserved for himself and Dancecard.

He danced with the F-14s for a full minute before he finally managed to place a sidewinder up the tail of one of the two, creating the fifth flamer of his career, the second hostile F-14 managed to get on Dancecards tail however, splashing his wingmate just seconds before Icemans guns tore through the cockpit, killing the enemy pilot instantly.

With both his targets and his wingman dead, Iceman did a quick situation check, and found Tiger and Wraith just polishing off the last Starfighter, but Javelin and Shard were both non-responsive and Iceman was quick to spot the Crusader slipping into position behind Tiger.

Shouting a warning over the radio, which sent Tiger evasive just in time; he slammed the throttles forward, pointing the nose of his fighter, his last missile spinning off the rails at the Crusader. The Crusader dived, a single flare appearing from a pod on its port wing as the aircraft went evasive, Iceman attempted to dive onto its tail, but was annoyed to find himself on his own, Tiger and Wraith both bugging out claiming they were running on reserve fuel.

Unfortunately, a quick check of his own fuel state proved to Iceman that fuel was becoming an issue for him too and more then a little annoyed, he too broke off the fight. The Crusader, no doubt low on fuel itself, bugged out.


	21. Chapter 20

Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Chapter 20 African Exclusion Zone, Land Seized by Joint US/UK Task Force**

"You got a bug problem m'am"

"Ah, stow it trooper!"

Rico grinned, his SAW spitting leaden death into the form of the demon that was trying to breech this section of the battleline. Of course, bullets were unlikely to kill something this size, but all they had to do was delay it long enough either for one of the Council teams to appear or for somebody to show up with a rocket launcher. Such minor damage as having your body spread halfway across Africa could kill even the hardiest of demons, something they had been quick to learn and capitalise on.

Of course, it was far easier when it was just one demon trying to break through, not a small horde assisted by a small group of fanatics, but the job just sucked some days and you had to live with that, or not, as the case may be.

He frowned, this particular demon didn't want to die and there was no sign of the council team or a missile team, it might be time to do something. rash.

Pausing a moment to wipe the sweet from his brow, he was already hating the hot African days, especially having to fight in them, he dived across the line of hastily dug foxholes, heading for the top of an overhang which, if he was any judge, the demon, mister black scaled big and ugly, would soon pass under.

He waited, slipping a full magazine into his automatic weapon, then the demon reached the ledge and he did something real rash. He jumped onto its back.

The demon naturally didn't like this, and attempted to throw him off but Rico wasn't having none of it, his SAW was already pumping rounds into a small area of the things armoured carapace, creating a small hole into which he dumped the last of his grenades. Then, he jumped off, running back for the friendly battleline with bullets and other things splattering into the ground all around him.

He glanced behind as he dived into the first foxhole, turning just long enough to see the creature collapse to the ground, smoke billowing from its form.

Good, that was one down. Now he just had twenty lesser demons and about thirty fanatics to kill.

He blinked, and apparently a flying dragon to kill too. Lovely.

**London Exclusion Zone, Royal Army Controlled, Barely.**

Lucien grimaced, his rifle hanging uselessly, ammo less at his side as he raced further and further away from the battlelines. He was of no use back there, not now, not without any ammunition, or even any grenades. It wasn't as if anyone back there had any ammo to spare either, not till the _Paladins _ dropped in with extra supplies and reinforcements, but they weren't expected for eight hours. No his best option was to join up with a Marine unit that was forming up on the hostile' side of the battle.

And try desperately hard to ignore the signals over the radio, the call for ammunition, the withdrawal of the artillery units either bingo shells or under heavy fire, the collapse of the outer defensive perimeter.

Too many units tasked elsewhere, too few ready to protect the capital, but then, when did the brass ever give you force enough for the task at hand? You always had to make do with what you had; unfortunately it looked this time like the other guy might just win this.

**Colorado Exclusion Zone  
**

_"All units fall back to point Alpha, repeat all units fall back to point alpha" _

"Shit," the grizzled sergeant cursed, hand instantly slamming on the mute button for his radio, but it was too late, he had been spotted.

The shadowy form twisted, moving towards him and Master Sergeant Banner cursed, his machine gun spitting leaden death uselessly at the incorporeal form. Spotting that it was doing no good, he turned, intending to run back to, well, wherever the frontline was now. He rather suspected there wasn't much of a line anymore, these terakens had just torn it apart in an orgy or killing, taking an ear of each person they killed, it was almost as if they were being paid by the kill, not by the day.

He stopped suddenly, the Old Soldiers friend tingling at his back. He turned, warily, gun raised and ready. The shadow assassin was... solid. Very solid, and looking like black marble.

Banner didn't even consider his next move, he just raised his weapon and fired, cursing as the statue was merely chipped by the bullets. Well, fine, if his gun wasn't going to destroy that thing, some C-4 certainly would, preferably before the damn thing got itself shadowy or whatever you call it again.

Or he could gape soundlessly at the young lady with the flowing white hair and the feet a full five inches off the ground. Damn, he had seen many strange things this day but flying women?

"I believe you were about to blow our 'friend' up?"

Banner warily watched the intruder, which side was she on?

"Oh, pass code Blue Four, authenticate Lima-Lima-Bravo" Banner raised a shocked eyebrow, she knew the right codes, but she looked to be one of _them _

"President asked for me, names Willow" Banner grinned as she, somewhat evilly, chuckled, "I'm just your friendly neighbourhood Deus Ex Machina"

Well, he thought to himself, if she is genuine, then this should be fun. Best stay with her, to ensure her safety, and of course, to ensure her unsafety if she is working for the other side

* * *

_To: Supreme Allied Commander, France  
__From: PMOUK  
__Priority: Flash Traffic  
__Re: Tactical Authorisation _

_Authorisation has been released for FIVE, 05 Tactical devices in the One, 01 to Five, 05 Kiloton range to be deployed. _

_Use as required, but consider usage carefully as each use will require a Board of Inquiry to be formed after the fact. I would remind that under nuclear deployment laws, haphazard use of such deployment carries the death penalty. _

_Be wise and good luck. _

_PMOUK _

* * *

_Despite the desperate efforts of the Secretary-General, the UN collapsed today as the final ten members pulled out, citing corruption, the successful infiltration of the UN, widespread abandonment by officials employed by the UN and a lack of trust. The UN is now officially the largest international organisation to have collapsed in the months since disclosure, joining a long line which includes several overwhelmed Aid Agencies and a large number of multinational businesses _

* * *

_Martial law restrictions were lifted in several cities today, including San Francisco, Seattle and Denver as the Pentagon frantically races to reinforce the garrisons at Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Africa and assist our allies at London, all of which have come under heavy attack over the last few days _

* * *

_The FBI today confirmed the arrest of General William Devereux by Special Agent Hubbard today, the senior officer of the army unit deployed in New York. Whilst the exact details of the charges have not been released, it is rumoured that Devereux was involved in several breaches of Federal Law and possibly several Geneva Convention violations _

* * *

_Italy confirmed the results on the recent referendum regarding Italy's future in a Post-disclosure world, the results were close despite a record 89 turn-out at the polls. 29 voted for Italy to form its own Space Navy, followed by 31 to join with Stargate Command, and 35 to join the Royal Space Service. That distinction may become moot as rumours continue to circulate that future plans involve a merging of Stargate Command and the Royal Space Service _

* * *

_To: Flying Officer Hodges, Acting Commanding Officer 177 Cobra' Squadron RSS  
__From: Commodore Peters, RSS Thundersdawn  
__Priority: High _

_All surviving personnel are to report to Colonial Military Command, planet Freedom for retraining. Squadron will be converting to Viper VIIIs. Replacement personnel will join you on site. _

_Remaining Lancers and dedicated support equipment are to be signed over to stores, ready for reissue. _

_A Paladin has been assigned as Squadron Support craft and is en-route to your location. _

_Colonel Philips, For Commodore Peters _


	22. Chapter 21

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Chapter Twenty-one 

My Vengeance is here.

They lost me my daughter and now, they will lose their precious Stargate, their precious mountain. Then, I will start on the so-called Royal' Space Service.

There pitiful resistance will soon end, these Terakens may be arseholes but their work is first rate. There have been complications of course, the Americans retaking control of the air has slowed things down, cost me more then a few of my men. Still, it only delayed the inevitable and reduced the bounties I would have to pay. The Terakens were killing so many that I was beginning to wonder if I would have enough money.

Now, they tell me they hold the entrance to the mountain and the areas below are in chaos, crippled by the loss of their murderous Generals. It might be time.

They cost me enough, a pair of Russian surplus nuclear devices but when I place them on the gate and detonate them, the mountain will be gone and that fiendish device though which they sent my daughter to purgatory.

For which they shall, they are being punished.

* * *

"The Infidels know our plan and fearfully, they try to block our path, prevent us from bringing forth Allah's most unmerciful vengeance upon the world. 

But we, we are the glorious Mujahideen, the warriors of Allah and we shall not fail! For has Allah not provided us with the tools of the Infidel, and has he not provided us with his righteous Angels to strike down the unholy!

In the name of Allah, the great, the most merciful, attack!"

* * *

"My Lord, the armies of the Tau'ri are shattered and have retreated from the area" 

"Excellent, now bring me the prisoners, we have a hellmouth to awaken. Soon, the Tau'ri will beg for escape from the hell their world will become and they will find no escape. Send the signal"

"My Lord"

* * *

"Incoming Wormhole" 

Master-Sergeant Siler rose up with a curse from the battered, bloody and decapitated body of General Carter, his eyes glowing, the effect eerie through the tears rolling down his face, "any GDO?"

The tone was doubled, harsh, but weary and pained, she was old and would normally take a rest, adapt to a new host for a while. But today, she did not have the time, doubly so as her host was not... comfortable with her being inside his head.

"No sir, ahh, Sergeant" the young, dark haired youth, whose uniform proudly proclaimed her to be a Airman First Class replied, somewhat nervously, edgily. She wasn't normally even allowed in this section but had been forced into retreating here, and now she had to figure out all the complexities of this system in mere minutes? It didn't exactly use any of the standard interfaces she was used to after all, "At least, not that I can tell sorry"

The Tok'ra glanced across, hands now firmly clenching the Zat he had pulled out of the hands of her dead previous host, "No GDO, but that new icon signals an incoming transmission"

Reaching across the shaky Airman, the Tok'ra accessed Harriman's memories and swiftly tapped up the communication.

_"Foolish Tau'ri, hear this. The great God Anubis has ordained your deaths this day. Already the Jaffa of his Loyal Servant, the Lesser God Iblis have seized the Mouth of Hell and soon, the God will open it, bringing forth a thousand horrors to feast upon your bodies and souls. _

_Know this, you shall not be allowed any escape by the gate and your pitiful navies will not be allowed to survive your end. Already, the warships of our Gods servants, the Drakh approach to rid our space of your menace. _

_Accept your deaths and Anubis may find it in his heart to be merciful, allowing your pitiful lives to continue as slaves to his greatness. All you need do is signal Iblis your surrender. Do not signal, and you will die" _

_"_Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! Come, wrack!  
At least we'll die with harness on our back !"

Selmac reached across, tapping the radio off as soon as the Airman finished her MacBeth quote, "admirable sentiments, and luckily enough, the exact same sort of message Harriman and I believe both Hammond and Thompson would send, if in less flowery terms"

"How," the Airman, whose movements uncovered her nametag, revealing her to be Airman Hammond, "do I open a channel to _Thundersdawn? _They need to be warned"

Selmac raised an eye in surprise, but reached across and started tapping at the computer, "we have one outside link remaining, the monitor station built over the silo had a sat link added off the record, it points directly at a type II def-sat which has been programmed to automatically relay such signals"

Selmac stepped back, satisfied, "I've relayed the gates transmission logs as Critique-flash. So, any relation to General Hammond?"

"Yes," the airman smiled for a moment, as she reached across for her own weapon, a small black pistol, "He's my Uncle"

* * *

_To: AllForces Sol/PDF AllForces Sol/Picket AllForces Sol/Support  
__Copy: Ravenbright, Edonia, Colonial HighCom, SGC-AlphaSite, AllForces Away  
From: Thundersdawn__  
Priority: Critique Flash  
__Re: Set Condition !ONE! _

_This is not a drill. _

_Stargate Command has been compromised, and despite destruct scheduled for 14:23 12/12/2012 is still active at this time 15:55 12/12/2012. Self-destruct devices are reported to be disabled by hostile intruder within the facility. _

_Last contact indicated gate was being blocked by incoming wormhole. Transmission received through gate indicated that the blockage is deliberate. All indicated was Iblis's intention to open the London Hellmouth and that a fleet was inbound to destroy ALL space assets. _

_Royal Army has confirmed that Iblis has seized control off the London Hellmouth. The African Hellmouth is currently under heavy assault and communications are compromised. _

_As off this moment, all units are ordered to Condition One. All dedicated warcraft follow defensive plan Hammond-Five. All armed support craft to Fallback-Beta unless involved in launching satellites for the Earthnet. Any satellites of both Type I and II which can be brought operational and launched are to be considered priority. _

_Commodore Peters. _

* * *

_To: Police Commissioner Metropolitan  
__From: PMOUK  
__Priority: Flash Traffic  
__Re: All Armed Police _

_All Police Officers trained in the use of guns and munitions that can be spared are hereby conscripted into temporary service. All such officers are to report with their equipment and as much ammunition as possible to Army Regrouping Point 12 as indicated on the maps previously sent to you. _

_At this point in time, the Goa'uld have successfully seized their objective from the Royal Army and your assistance is unfortunately required to plug holes caused by the severe losses the Army has taken. _


	23. Chapter 22

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Twenty-two 

_To: London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Stansted  
__From: Civil Aviation Authority  
__Priority: Most Immediate  
__RE: Airlift _

_Any inbound flights are to be diverted to their alternates unless delivering troops to London. You are to rig immediately for Airlift operations. Expect at each airport, one Infantry Regiment or equivalent from the Russian Republic. _

_Arrangements are being made for a swift transfer to the front, details for which should be with your RAF Liaisons within the next ten minutes. _

_Further details attached. _

_I would remind you all that hostile forces have seized their objective on the outskirts of London and it has been confirmed that some sort of super weapon is being enabled. We need these troops shifted to the front as fast as possible or it may be the end. _

* * *

_"This is a public advisory being issued to all citizens of the United Kingdom. _

_In order to ensure the destruction of Goa'uld forces currently deployed on this nation's soil and to ensure the continued existence of the United Kingdom, it may be necessary to detonate thermonuclear devices within areas seized by the Goa'uld or about to fall under their control. _

_Therefore, if you are still within any area on this map marked RED you are hereby asked to leave and with haste if you are able, but be wary of Goa'uld patrols. _

_If you are in an area marked with Red and white stripes, you are asked to leave immediately for a green zone. However, failure to obey commands from armed forces in the area may be result in your deaths; therefore you are advised to be co-operative. _

_If you are in a Yellow zone, you are advised to remain indoors with windows and doors closed and curtains pulled. Placing tape across windows in a criss-cross pattern is also advised as it will help stop flying glass, thereby reducing injuries. If a blast occurs near you, do not leave your home unless absolutely necessary. _

_All zones are cautioned that we will not be announcing detonations in advance so as not to warn the enemy, you are also requested to keep a battery powered or wind-up radio with you at all times as mains power may become disrupted. _

_This is a public advisory being issued to all citizens of the United Kingdom..." _

* * *

"You know," Dizzy commented thoughtfully, raising the darkly metallic tube onto her shoulder, pointing the sharp end swiftly at the sky, and the third of the darting, angry red forms that were making their lives so... interesting at this point in time, "I don't believe I have ever fired at a bird before, even a big overgrown one that breathes fire" 

Rico snorted, bringing up his own tube, "these aren't birds, Dragons are reptiles, or so I'm told"

Dizzy tracked the thing with the tube, waiting for the sound which would indicate a solid lock, "this one has feathers"

Rico glanced across, using the sights built into the launcher to get a closer look at her target, "huh, so it has. Guess that makes it a bird"

A steady beep sounded by Dizzy's ears and a second later, the tube belched fire and burning gases as its deadly payload rocketed its way through the sky.

Seconds later, Dizzy dropped the tube to the ground and began searching through the scattered boxes and debris for a reload, "Ex-bird"

Rico glanced across, not having spotted any more targets, "guess you gave her the bird, right?"

"Nothing," Dizzy shook her head at the bad humour, "that polite, thank you"

"Damn it," she cursed, "looks like we're out of birds"

"Well," Rico dryly commented as a trio of helicopters flashed over the nearby mountains, diving towards his position, he recognised these, they were Huey Cobras and he knew nobody on his side of the party had brought any, "looks like we aren't out of targets yet"

Dizzy glanced up and grimaced, summing up their feelings in one simple word, "shit"

* * *

_To: Peters RSS Thundersdawn  
__From: O'Neill Ravenbright  
__Priority: Flash  
__Re: Expect Transits _

_Expect transits, two standard type Ha'taks belong to the Free Jaffa. They were in system for a class change at the Jaffa training system on Alpha Prime but I activated the Mutual Defence Treaty and asked them to assist you. _

_Both ships are triple strength for crew, ships own personnel, the outgoing class and the new class yet to be retrained. _

_I will see what else I can scrape up. _

_O'Neill. _

* * *

_To: Pentagon, Operations and Deployments.  
__From: Brigidier General O'Malley 3 rd Armoured Cavalry  
__Priority: Flash Traffic  
__Re: Cheyenne Mountain, Situation Critical. _

_Have assumed Command of all surviving forces in the area. Be advised that heavy losses have been sustained by elements of the 1 st Battalion deployed to this location and that all surviving medical facilities have been swamped. _

_Currently regrouping at the main mountain entrance, most hostile forces appear to have moved into the mountain itself for the moment however several secondary entrances are not under our control. _

_Have been joined by several elements identifying themselves as being from the Council of Watchers and these elements have proven more effective then our infantry and tanks in killing the Terakens however the ages of these assets and the fact that they are taking losses is adversely effecting morale. _

_Situation within the mountain highly uncertain, however unconfirmed reports from several escapees suggest General Carter may be dead. Status of the Tok'ra Selmac is unknown. _

_Request Infantry reinforcements. My tanks cannot operate within the mountain and the 1 st Battalion is severely depleted. _

* * *

_From: Automatedlagrangecontrol  
__To: Duty Officer SolDefense  
__Priority: Auto  
__Re: CONTACT _

_Sixty-five percent 65 Confidence on Twelve 12 Contacts inbound _

_Contacts registering on L3, L4, L5, at time of transmission. _

_Contacts unidentified. No IFF detected. Signal Strength not yet sufficient for ID. _

_Contacts are in hyper. _

_Plot data attached. _

* * *

"Okay," Lucien gasped, gratefully pushing the large bottle of water back into the hands of the territorial officer he had linked up with, "Sit-rep please" 

The officer shrugged, the movement emphasising his broad shoulders and heavy build, his accent marking him as a Yorkshireman, "We've been forced off the hellmouth, casualties have been high but the RAF has some semblance of control over the skies once more which will help. Their main base in the area got shot up however which _won't _ help. Nor will the fact that the Jaffa have put up a number of anti-air batteries whose crews appear to be elite, anything flying low has gotten whacked."

"Russians are sending reinforcements but according to the timetable this Council of Watchers' has provided, if they are delayed by so much as a minute, they are likely to be too late so we're supposed to be regrouping for a last ditch attack. We however don't have a hope in hells chance of getting to the regroup point in time"

The officer grimaced, "Oh yes, and a public advisory was issued an hour ago concerning the use of nukes"

Lucien gasped, not needing to ask if he was serious, news as bad as that never needed confirmation, "Jesus!"

"Yes," the officer sighed, glancing across at his men, "I'm Lieutenant Paxton by the way, what were you doing out on your own?"

"Spotting," Lucien shrugged, "then everything went Fubar and I've been running ever since, it's been bloody days, or it feels like it"

"Well," Paxton nodded, "you're SAS so... I have fifty-five men here, we have guns, ammo and are ready to go, just cant get to the big show. Any thoughts?"

Lucien let a slow smile spread across his face, "well, I may have one or two..."


	24. Chapter 23

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Twenty-Three 

Control the skies.

Ever since the Great War, that had been the foundation of warfare. It took the Second World War to sink in completely but control the skies was the rule. A rule made unbreakable by hard earned experience, blood and the sheer capabilities displayed by airborne, or in this case, spaceborne warcraft.

You aimed for Air Superiority, control of the skies, but you hoped for Air Supremacy, you tried to ensure nothing moved in the skies without your permission. With that in hand, controlling the ground became far easier.

Of course, Peters thought rather grumpily, that doctrine had been written by tacticians that assumed you would have the best aircraft or the most aircraft to throw into the battle.

Today, she had neither.

Twelve warships, the Destroyers _Invincible, General Hammond, Stingray, _the untested _Defiant, _and the cruisers _Yorktown _and the extremely green _Jinaghu, _and she could not count upon the _Jinaghu _ to follow her commands. Six warships to the Drakh Twelve, of course, she also had four _Al-kesh, _two full squadrons of MTBs, one was patrol, one Planetary Defence Force, one _F-302 _ squadron and one _Lancer _squadron. The Free Jaffa warships she had been promised would not arrive for another two hours, the battle would most likely be done by then.

That, if she was only worried about Capitals, would most likely be enough, but she wasn't. The Drakh would be launching fighters before long and she had seen the reports, their weapons were a threat to a Capital ship and their carriers carried enough that her own fighters might be swamped.

It was worrying.

Of course, she hoped to even the odds on _that _ a little, the two cloaked _Al-kesh _ she had were even now manoeuvring into position to kill at least one of the encroaching carriers, a mission that was most likely to prove suicidal. She was just glad that the captured craft had been equipped with certain sensor foxing technologies for their special' operations.

A cloak, even if they were older types was difficult to detect, though she knew Anubis could do it, but when said craft was also equipped with sensor absorbent paints and jammers then detection became very difficult indeed.

Not that the enlarged crew liked the reduced space they had to work in, but considering the nature of their missions, they didn't question anything that decreased their chances of discovery. She just considered herself lucky that both craft had been home for some R&R when all this mess started to kick off.

"Commodore, we have a microburst transmit from _Rogue" _

She cast her thoughts aside for the moment, _Rogue _ was one of the cloaked _Al-kesh _, she risked exposure by transmitting at all, so what she said had to be taken seriously.

"Go on" she told her current Communications officer, a Canadian Sub-Lieutenant by the name of Brown.

"Full force disposition m'am, Three Carriers, nine Cruisers. No mother ships"

"That confirms the reports from the Lagrange array, or rather," she noted dryly, "what's left of it"

"New signal M'am" Brown glanced up from her displays, her face looking oddly pallid in the red lighting, "Tally-ho"

Peters nodded, grimly, knowing that it was more then likely she would not see those two bombers again.

"Good Luck," she whispered quietly, and "God Speed"

"Damnation!" she glanced across frowning, her engineering officer wasn't exactly known for such outbursts, "the ammo train for the starboard arm is down"

Peters rose swiftly, cursing. That single train provided munitions for two gauss rifles and two cells of missile launchers. The loss was a real dent to the total firepower of the station as without it, the starboard weapons were reduced to the munitions in there ready bunkers. As soon as that relatively small stock was gone, they were out of ammo.

"What happened?" she barked, annoyed and anxious.

"Not sure, There are no stoppages visible through the cameras, and rerouting through the second command net didn't clear the issue, looks like a motor blew"

"Find it and hot-swap a new one, fast"

He nodded, already spitting orders through his headset and Peters returned to her seat, her mind already factoring this new problem into her battleplan. .

"Contact lost, Master Designate 142, Drakh carrier" Peters glanced up to the main screen, watching as the icon for the 142 hostile contact to register since _Thundersdawn _ was built changed from the steady red of a known hostile to the blinking red expanding circle that showed the outside limits of where the ship could possibly be.

"Was it destroyed?" Peters asked, frowning, the _Al-kesh _ had signalled a Tally-ho after all.

Sensors, a tall frigid blonde, shook her head, "Possible explosions on site, but nothing definite as yet. I've ordered a triangulation of all the sensor data, it'll take a few processor cycles but it will give us a far clearer picture"

She nodded, if that ship was alive, dead, or just injured might make all the difference, "let me know soonest please"

"Of course M'am"

Peters nodded, wishing desperately that she could have a cuppa, but this was Battle conditions, the craving would have to wait. If the station itself was attacked, then it was known to rock, and that combined with electronics and hot drinks was not a safe combination, doubly so when the electronics were command circuits.

She turned her attention once more back to the tactical display. The Drakh were launching fighters now, but a dozen blue dots were already racing towards the formation, two squadrons of MTBs racing in for a hit and run assault, hoping maybe to force a Cruiser to drop damaged out of formation, easy prey.

The ever growing circle that signalled the area in which the third Carrier could be abruptly vanished, replaced at its centre by the flashing yellow beacon of a navigation hazard.

"I see," Peters glanced up at Sensors as she began to speak," status of _Rogue _ and _Black?" _

"No contact"

"I see" Peters did too, for a stealthy warcraft, No contact meant no idea. They could have been destroyed but just as equally they could be retreating under cloak, you wouldn't know until they contacted you, or you found debris.

On the Tac screen, the blinking blue dots of the MTBs and MGBs intersected momentarily with the red of the Drakh, blinking in the double beat pattern which indicated weapons firing, before darting back away again, racing into space. In their wake, darted the red emblems in fighters, sixteen chasing after the small but deadly warships.

The screen flashed, and a damage marker appeared over a Drakh cruiser. A second damage marked appeared around an MTB, the _Griffin _ as behind it, the Drakh Fighters double-beated, weapons firing Instantly, the blue dots turned, icons blinking almost spastically as they fired.

The two groups of dots intersected, and Peters found she was chewing her nails as Blue and Red meshed on the screen in front of her. She dropped her hand to her lap, but she didn't notice as it rose into her mouth once more.

The dots scattered abruptly, damage markers appearing around most as an expanding white halo flashed across space. Shockwave, somebody had died, and not in a minor way either, their core had breached, but was it a Drakh fighter or one of hers?

The picture cleared, the blue dots swiftly congregating around the _Griffin. _ Peters counted and sighed with relief, there were twelve still. Then she frowned, her eye catching on an encroaching form.

"Priority signal to the motor squadrons, they have a cruiser coming up on their tails; suggest they vacate the area, post-haste!"

"Aye M'am," there was a grunt, then  _"Griffin _ signals that they are abandoning ship, _Chimera _ and _Dragon _ are picking up survivors"

Peters grimaced, but at least abandoning meant survivors, unlike actually losing the ship and they had completed their mission, one damaged cruiser was dropping back, along with the now defenceless carriers, their fighters swarming around the eight operational Cruisers charging for her battlelines.

The dots moved, blue racing away from red, leaving behind the scattered markers of twelve new navigation hazards, only eleven of which belonged to the enemy.

_"Siren, Warhound _ and _Sniper _are out of the fight, Drakh fighters blew their shield generators in a single shot and they have crippling shock damage across the rest of their systems"

Peters nodded acceptance of the report, "signal them to join the second line"

The second line, that's where all the craft that had weapons but weren't dedicated warcraft were, the _Paladins _ and _Shunters, _support craft with barely enough weapons to defend themselves against an _Udajeet _. But should the first line fail, then even the little they could do might be enough. They would sell their lives dearly, most likely in the only way they could.

Peters frowned, sitting abruptly forward in her seat. The Drakh, they had shifted course. In fact, they appeared to be bypassing the fleet and heading

Peters finger darted straight for the Stationwide button, after all these years, she no longer needed to look to see where it was, _"All hands, Battlestations!" _


	25. Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

It took just fifteen seconds for confirmation to come through that all stations were at full readiness, a new record by far, but not unexpected. Everyone knew there were hostiles in system; they knew to be near their posts. It seemed everyone had actually been at them.

Peters nodded; she would remember to thank them, if there was a later.

"Signal the fleet, looks like we will be going for hammer and anvil again, we'll be the anvil, they can bring the hammer" Peters said, her hands swiftly working at her restraints, locking herself into her post, "Engineering, status on the starboard ammo train please"

"Not confirmed, but it looks dead. Dead motor, but it melted into position, so we can't hot swap it"

Peters froze, the cursed, fluently and vividly.

"We had best hope the Drakh don't focus on our starboard side then" she grimly concluded, "reduce firing rate on both arms by two-thirds, that should preserve the starboard ammo for as long as possible and hopefully they wont figure out for a while that starboards running low"

"Aye Commodore, should I reduce Alpha Strike for those batteries?"

"No," Peters chuckled dryly, "we should be able to kill one of those bastards dead with the initial Alpha strike"

Alpha Strike, an orgasmic burst of destructive energy poured onto some unfortunate soul by the simple process of making sure there was a missile in every single launcher, waiting until the enemy came to a decent range then salvoing the lot off in one go, joined by a full strength burst from every Gauss rifle. It was the stations version of the Hammer of God and with the Starboard ammo train out, something they would only be able to do once.

Once was often enough to get the point across.

"Targets locked into computer, we have guidance lock"

Peters nodded, grimly, "Hold off fire till they hit most effective, full Alpha Strike, pick a target and I want it to _die" _

Now wasn't the time to mice around with words after all.

That would empty the weapons of whatever ammunition was already inside them, Peters knew, but they would swiftly refill from the nearby Ready Lockers. Under normal circumstances, those lockers would themselves refill from the stations large main bunkers but that link was out for the Starboard arm of the station.

Nodding, she abruptly spoke, "Alpha strike a cruiser, then shift fire to the fighters, they are deadly enough but not very manoeuvrable, we should have most gone before the fleet arrives"

Her weapons officers acknowledged, and Peters turned to the tactical display, and waited.

The Red dots grew swiftly closer, and she waited.

Blue dots raced across the screen from the direction of Earth, moving far faster then the red, and Peters waited.

An Alpha symbol appeared above one of the cruisers and Peters grinned evilly, and waited.

Then, abruptly, Peters felt the only home she had known for eight years twitch, just slightly. It wasn't much, but it was enough to tell her even before her weapons officers did, that the stations mighty weapons had spoken.

One Alpha marked Cruiser vanished from the display, not even leaving enough debris to rate a navigation hazard indicator.

Stunned, the Drakh failed to return fire for nearly a full minute, but by that time, the stations main gauss rifles were already sowing death amongst the Drakh fighters, and soon, they would come into range of the Pulse Laser batteries, the dedicated anti-fighter weapons.

The Fighters charged, swiftly closing the range so that they could use their own weapons against the station, but in doing so they unmasked themselves from the protection of their cruisers and brought down the pulse batteries upon their heads.

Peters watched carefully, dispassionately, then nodded, decision made, "switch gauss fire to the Cruisers"

There were only twenty fighters left now; the pulse lasers could deal with them. The Cruisers were far more of an issue, and the fleet wasn't here quite yet. At least Anubis hadn't thought to equip his allies with shields, their armour, though exceptionally thick, was not as good as the station's multiple shields.

Peters grimaced as a swiftly silenced Master Alarm sounded; she glanced across at the weapons displays, already knowing what she would see. No ammunition remaining on the Starboard arm. Hardly unexpected, now how long would it take the Drakh to notice?

The station was rocking now, like a ship buffeted by high seas. To most, it wasn't noticeable, the inertial compensators having been upgraded to the point where most movements were no longer felt by station personnel. To the Engineering officer, it showed as swiftly rising thrusters mass usage displays as the computers fired thrusters after thrusters, obeying their programming to keep the station in its preordained position.

Peters felt each movement, she had been aboard far too long not too, become too attuned with the station, and to her, each one was a hit that could potentially put her home out of action. To her, each rock of the station was a physical blow to her own body.

It hurt.

A second Cruiser vanished off the scope, but Peters could smell smoke in the air now and there were damage indicators slowly spreading across the stations status displays. She was hurting, damaged but not out of the fight yet, not by a long shot.

The station shook, violently, being felt by everyone despite the improved dampeners. The Drakh were desperate, they had underestimated the Tau'ri, not brought enough warships, they had expected to kill the station fast and move onto the fleet, but they were wrong. Or at least, that was what Peters guessed was happening, they had certainly picked up the pace of their weapons fire.

Peters heard a whoosh and felt a burning heat at her back, she glanced behind and gasped, hands wrenching at the quick release on her restraints as fire reached for her back. Electrical, a distant part of her mind said, so very separated from the reality of what was around her, has to be, no fuel lines run by here. Out of the fire, a figure stepped, screaming, and burning like a macabre Guy Fawkes.

Shoving an Ensign out in front of her, she darted out of the Command Centre, it was in the hands of the DC teams now, she had to make her way to Auxiliary Control, and fast. She could already feel that the main weapons were not firing, their previous commands completed.

She reached Aux control just in time to see the blue dots of the Fleet start double-beating, firing. But then, so was the station, the smaller, older status displays of the Aux Command proudly proclaiming that, for only the fifth time since _Thundersdawn _ came online, that Auxiliary Control had command.

Caught between the Anvil of the station and the hammer of the fleet, the result of the battle was inevitable, but for all that, Peters knew it wasn't over yet. The Drakh, according to the displays had six ships remaining; they could still cause a lot of damage.

"Concentrate fire and co-ordinate your targets with the fleet, if we both hammer a single ship at a time we should be able to swiftly roll them up"

"Yes M'am," Peters glanced across at the youthful tone and smiled, "Ensign Henderson, nice to see you out of hack at last"

She chuckled at the young and somewhat quick to anger officers' wince, at that age, she wouldn't have wanted to be remembered for how often she was in hack either.

"Having targeting difficulties M'am," Peters glanced across, frowning, "getting a lot of false signals off the boards in main, the filters aren't clearing them all out"

Nodding, she turned to where she knew the DC station was, to find a short, tubby officer she didn't recognise, albeit one wearing a station command badge, "DC, have your teams disconnect the main data lines to command, and fast"

Turning back to the tactical display, Peters grimaced as the icon for _Yorktown _ separated itself from the rest, moving rather sluggishly away from the battle, its markers screaming of no shields and fires aboard. She would most likely require some time inside her stations slips.

_Jinaghu _ darted aggressively forward, diving between two cruisers to get at the heavily damaged companion they were trying to screen. The ships icon blinked once, twice swiftly and the first unit of the Peoples Liberation Army, Space Division claimed its first combat kill.

Another cruiser vanished, swamped by the fighters of 6 th Starfighter Wing and 194 Reaver' Squadron. Peters watched as the remaining four cruisers attempted to break away, and catching Henderson's eyes, she calmly, quietly said, "No mercy"

The station and fleet fired as one, the combined fire cracking a cruiser like an egg, a second died just as swiftly, but the third turned, already crippled, it tried to place itself between the fleet, station and the final cruiser, hoping that at least their companion would get away.

Three of the _Dauntless'es, _the _General Hammond, Stingray _ and Enerina's _Defiant _ ignored the cripple and chased the fleeing cruiser down. The cripple died, as _Jinaghu _ fired a full spread of torpedoes into its side.

This battle was over, but Peters wasn't finished.

"Recall all fighters and rig them for ground support operations," she shook her head, "and call up some _Paladins, _between us and the fleet we have about 150 trained soldiers and I am damn sure that the reinforcements would be appreciated at London, or Colorado, or bloody Africa. And hell, there are 100 Marines aboard _Minehead _alone, the Naquadah isn't going anywhere soon, so I am sure they could spare a few..."


	26. Chapter 25

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Twenty-five 

"All right," O'Malley barked, his voice distorted and amplified by the loudspeaker in his hands, "you are going to retake the mountain! Remember your training, and remember that not only are you in confined space, but underground, if you cause any structural collapses, you may bring down the whole mountain on top of you."

"With each team will be experienced officer from the Council of Watchers. As many of you have seen, they are very experienced in killing the Teraken assassins; they know what they are doing. They have little experience in fighting soldiers however and we know there are mercs inside the mountain. You protect them from the mercenaries and they will protect you from the Terakens, teamwork will allow you to win this, remember that!"

"Also be aware that survivors may be still trapped inside the mountain, so if you see movement, make sure you identify before you shoot!"

The tall General glanced grimly across the assembled troops, the fifteen teams that had the task of initial insertion into the mountain complex. He wanted to fix them into his mind one last time, for he knew many, perhaps all, would not come back from this.

"There is a base self-destruct, this was activated yesterday and should have detonated yesterday. Obviously it didn't, and that means there is at least Eight thermonuclear devices inside the mountain whose status is unknown. That is why many of you have Geiger counters and why we have two NEST teams waiting outside the mountain. If you find a device, secure it and make damn sure somebody gets word out to us, understood?"

He watched, his heart proudly swelling as each man women, and as much as he hated to say it, child, nodded, their eyes proclaiming that they understood all to well what was being asked of them. And none, not even the children the council of watchers had working for them looked in danger of breaking, their eyes told him all to clearly that they knew their duty, their purpose. He hated that children had such looks in their eyes, they should not know of Duty before they were out of High School, but these did. However much Ms Rosenberg might tell him it was part and parcel of choosing to be a Slayer, he didn't like it.

"Good Luck," he said finally, "now, go take back that mountain!"

He watched with sinking heart, but proud eyes as the teams tore past his Guards, and into the mountain itself, one-hundred and fifteen Slayers, Witches, Soldiers, Seals and Special Forces, a mixed bag of all the able bodied warriors he could scrape together.

He hoped it would be enough.

General, his aide came up behind him, Bravo-twelve reports unidentified soldiers crawling up the mountain

O'Malley sighed, and turned to his work. He still had to make sure the mountain entrance stayed secure.

* * *

"So," Sergeant Reeman asked, his tone conversationally as he carefully stayed in front of the red head, blocking any line of fire to their ace in the hole, "how long you been a..." 

Willow snorted, she was already used to that response, the sudden trail off as the individual suddenly realised they were going to use witch' to describe someone and worse, that they were going to mean it.

Time, she decided, for a little fun.

"Lesbian?" she suggested.

Reeman choked, echoed the eight other warriors that made up his team, "heh, no," he finally spat out, having spotted the teasing tone, "I'm sure you have a good boyfriend somewhere. What I meant was, how long have you been a witch?"

Willow grinned, "Actually I have a good _Girlfriend _, but she's in Africa at the moment. Knowing sweetie, I hope they keep her away from any explosives"

Reeman starred agog at Willow for a moment, then very firmly turned his mind back to the job. It wasn't exactly easy.

* * *

O'Malley glared at the maps in front of him, hating the message that they were delivering. Spread far too thin, that's what his problem was. Too many brushfires, too many cities collapsing into chaos or on the very brink and not enough forces to respond to each. 

It meant that those who, like him, had a real problem on their hands were very much on their own. He hated that, this was America, land of the Proud! They should have the units to respond to as many brushfires as they wanted, not that many years ago, they did have. But there had been too many cutbacks since the end of the last world war, too much gradual erosion of the nations Military Strength and since the fall of communism, it had all just accelerated.

America was supposed to have enough units to respond to two all out wars at any one time, nowadays they barely had enough to respond to one, yet they were being asked to respond to half a dozen and it showed.

Africa, this blasted mountain, the aliens, most of their damned cities and that should not ever have happened; soldiers were not trained to keep the peace within their own nation! Yet, they had too; the Police were overwhelmed almost everywhere. In Detroit, half the Police Force had died, _died _ before infantry arrived to enforce the peace, the Pax Americana, he thought bitterly.

An aide stepped over, moving several markers across the map, more activity at the Silo in which the Stargate had been hidden away from sight for many years. The bastards still held that entrance and there was little he could do about it. The only forces he had available were tanks and they would have a hard time in that area.

God, how he wished he had more air support, but despite his pleas, all they had managed to rustle up for him was a Cap of four Tomcats, not even bombcats. They couldn't help him against the forces on the ground.

But, he sighed; this was and always had been part of the job of General. You did the best with what you had; there wasn't really much other choice.

* * *

"Hold!" Willow barked, instantly the Soldiers around her froze, eyes flickering into every possible corner an enemy could hide. They could see nothing, but they knew enough to trust Willows judgement. You had to trust those who fought at your side after all, if you didn't, you would be in real trouble. 

_"Os ego animadverto, ostendo sum ut totus!"  
__("Sight I see, reveal to all") _

Reeman blinked, as in a flash, a claymore and tripwire appeared, just two inches in front of his left foot.

"Call it a little closer next time why don't you Willow" he wryly commented, backing with exquisite care away from the tripwire.

Willow shook her head, "Next time I _could _ just let you walk into it?"

Reeman thought about that for all of a microsecond, "I think I'll pass"

A snort came from Corporal Devon as she carefully stepped forward, kneeling right next to the wire, "wise choice"

She reached forward, and warily snipped the tripwire in two right next to the detonator. Dropping a fluorescent live ordinance tag next to the claymore, she rolled the rest of the wire up and rose to her feet.

Very cautiously, the team walked past the disabled, but not disarmed device and continued into the mountain.

* * *

"Sir," the General glanced up from the plot, acknowledging his aide once more, hoping for good news, but not willing to bet on it. There had been too much bad news recently. 

"There's a B-52 inbound, call-sign Hi-jinx," O'Malley smiled at the report he was handed, "We have to splash the target and tell them how many bombs we want dropped each time, but they have a full bay and can hang around for a couple of hours. Exact details are on the report sir"

"Thank you" O'Malley replied, somewhat more cheerfully then he had been for the last few hours. The Air Force had promised him some form of Air Support he could use against ground targets and boy had they delivered, even if a B-52 for close support wasn't exactly a normal choice. They were far more often used either for Cruise Missile launches, or to for some urban clearance, Carpet Bombing style.

He would have to find out how many Laser Target designators were floating around, he would need them all.

* * *

_"Contego of diluculo!"  
__("Shield of Dawn!") _

Reeman swore, hands swiftly slamming a new clip into his rifle without him ever taking his eyes of the form that was attacking the team, dark sunken eyes, black cloak, eyes that seemed to have an evil, malevolent glow within oh yes, this guy wasn't likely to be on his side of the battle. Of course, the fact that the gits first move had been to throw a fireball which damn near incinerated him wasn't hat much of a give away, really.

Least Willow had a really cool shield up know, and the number of times he could have used one of _those _ on previous missions

His weapon raised, he aimed and fired, a black suited mercenary dropping to the ground, a growing red stain spreading across his forehead. Headshot, Reeman smiled, nice, he certainly wouldn't be able to get up again.

He swung hiss weapon, grinned at the frustrated growls from the other side of the shield, as bullets and strange energy bursts flashed into non-existence upon contacting the strange orangey-blue glow.

He fired, the weapon shuddering in his hands, bullets dancing off concrete as his target ducked into cover. Well, he couldn't have it always, but if he timed it just right

He paused in his firing, pulling at the magazine, the mercenary, no doubt thinking he had to change magazines darted out of cover, and aimed, but Reeman smiled evilly and slammed the clip straight back into position, and fired.

Another mercenary down, not that the merc could have hit him anyway, not with that shield up. Speaking of which

He reached across, tapping at Willows shoulder. She glanced across, her feet not entirely on the ground and he mouthed grenade, nodding at the hostile mage.

She nodded, her feet rising further of the ground, the shield visibly strengthening, and Reeman knew she had understood.

He reached down, rifle dropping onto its strap as he grabbed a grenade of his belt, and pulled its pin. Carefully waiting for the grenades timer to hit 3, he threw the small egg underarm though the mystical barrier. He stood up, placing himself directly between Willow and the blast, just in case she hadn't reinforced the shield enough, his mind carefully counting, _four, five... _

There was no six.

But there was a sudden wetness on the back of his neck. He reached up cautiously, his hand testing his neck, there seemed to be wetness, most likely blood but he could feel no injury. He brought his hands up in front of his eyes, blood, but if it wasn't his, whose?

"Fuck!" he cursed, spinning around, grabbing Willow just in time to stop her collapsing to the ground.

"Power spike" she gasped, "no big, I just need a few to recover"

Reeman noticed the blood dripping from her nose; he glanced back to where the shield was. It was still up.

Nodding, he grabbed, hold of her face and forced the witch to look directly into his eyes, "are you sure you are okay?"

"Yes," Willow nodded weakly, "just need to recover a second"

Satisfied, he carefully helped her to the ground, and then turned to the team, "We're holding here for five, grab a drink, check your ammo but don't forget to stay vigilant"


	27. Chapter 26

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Twenty-six 

"Fuck," Kennedy cursed, her personal weapon, a heavy broadsword, swinging in her hands as she followed the soldiers through the dark, and above all else, boringly uniform corridors of the complex, "how the fuck did I let that bitch talk me into this, working with _soldiers" _

Her associates shared, annoyed looks at the sneer evident in her tone, this they all agreed, was one arrogant bitch. Unfortunately, they also knew she was a necessary one. Already, she had spotted six terakens and one mercenary ambush before they had, as well as a number of booby-traps.

That meant that they would be professional enough to control themselves and work with her, didn't mean they had to like the brat.

"Ambush," Kennedy growled out, pointing towards a junction ahead, where one corridor joined theirs at a solid 90 degree angle, feels like two, maybe three Terakens"

"Grenade"

Contemptuously, Captain Gibbs handed over the demanded item, and then winced as Kennedy withdrew the pin and threw the explosive egg with far more then necessary force. She was surprised it didn't explode when it hit the wall, it did so with such force, but Kennedy had called it right, and the green shape ricocheted into the other corridor.

Seconds later, flames and debris burst into the corridor in front of them, scaring the wall but coming no where near the team, but Kennedy was already running, recklessly charging around the corridor.

Her body slammed back, peppered with bullet holes, blood already running from her mouth, her eyes turned in an instant from arrogant, spoiled, to lifeless, dead. Captain Gibbs couldn't find it in her heart to fell sorry for the young woman.

* * *

General O'Malley sighed as the first casualties reports started filtering out, at least two teams were gone, four had been forced out of the mountain by casualties, and several others reported losing members. 

More then a handful of teams hadn't reported at all, considering how eager the Terakens appeared to attack all the teams other then Willows, he was beginning to wonder if there was something about that lady he hadn't been told, or that he hadn't quite understood.

Willows team had reported, by the simple method of dropping there progress into his Aides mind every fifteen minutes or so, and they certainly were reporting far more progress and less attacks then any other team.

He shrugged; he would take his blessings where he could, if the Terakens were reluctant to attack her, so be it. They were just giving him an advantage and he could live with that, of course, he could be misjudging the situation, but in warfare, that was always a risk.

Casualty reports from Bravo-twelve, O'Malley nodded his thanks, taking the hastily scribbled notes on their yellow flash-burn paper from his aide, and wished, not for the first time, that there were a few other senior officers surviving who could assist him. It wasn't easy commanding the all the armed units remaining in Colorado Springs and the mountains when the only person ranked higher then a Major was himself.

Sir, his aide was back, hand held to his head in a now familiar pained gesture, Willow reports that they have left the old SpaceCom areas and are now ready to rappel into the main SGC area

* * *

"Tell me again," Willow asked annoyed, as the line was fastened across her waist, "why we can't just use the stairs?" 

Reeman looked at her incredulously, "you uncovered twelve booby-traps on the first flight of steps alone! Do you _know _ how many flights there are?"

"Better then the long drop!" Willow shot back.

"We don't have the time" Reeman replied, "we really don't"

Willow sighed,"the first time was fun, but you know, this lift shaft is a little deeper then the one at the Initiative"

"Initiative?"

She blinked,"dont ask"

"Ready," Devon replied, stepping back from Willow.

"Okay," Reeman said, "Me, Devon, Willow first. Willow, concentrate on finding traps for us, if you can shield too, it would be beautiful, we are going to very vulnerable dropping down that shaft. Devon, concentrate on disabling any technological traps Willow finds, I will try my hardest to deal with any hostiles, understood?"

He glanced across at the rest of the team, "come down in twos, odd man with the last stick"

* * *

Gibbs cursed, swiftly working at her P-90. A jam, of all the damned times to have a jam, right when a group of four, maybe five mercs decide to use your team as target practise wasn't when she would have chosen. 

Not that Murphy ever cared what she thought.

Strange thing about these mercs though, they seemed to be wearing the armbands chosen to identify the teams

"Ahh," a voice sounded behind her, and Gibbs whirled, P-90 dropped and knife raised in one fluid motion, "more toys for my command, excellent"

The tone sent shivers down her back, and Gibbs felt a primal shiver run up her back, a shiver she had felt just once before, right before a sniper had placed a bullet into her thigh which put her on the bench for three months.

She trusted that instinct, and let the knife fly.

It stopped, mid air, half-way between herself and the dark man whose very presence screamed arrogance and evil.

"Do you really think," he sneered, "you could kill me with a mere _blade?" _

"No," Gibbs calmly replied, smiling at the red stain that was spreading unnoticed across the mans silken shirt," I thought I could kill you with _two" _

He glanced down in shock, seeing the blade inside his chest. He looked up, his eyes uncomprehending, how could one so insignificant as her injure him?

Angry, he tried to raise his hands, to etch the sigils into the air which would bind her to his control, but his arm wouldn't rise.

Slowly, his eyes still screaming their disbelief, he fell to the ground.

Gibbs unholstered her backup weapon, the modified Desert Eagle that had been a present from her brother, and shot the mage at point blank range, the bullet making a small, dark hole in his forehead.

Glancing around, she spotted that the firing had stopped, that the other team, rather confused, had allowed themselves to be disarmed, and smiling, she slid her pistol back into its holster and reached for her main weapon.

She still had a jam to clear after all.

* * *

"Uhm," Willow drew her hadn back from the door, careful not to make any abrupt movement which might make her swing on the rappelling line, "we may have a problem" 

Reeman groaned, "What kind of problem?"

"Oh, just the collapsing circuit kind"

"Shit" Devon succinctly commented, "means we cant disable the devices. normally a controlled detonation would be required, but we cant really do that here. Nor do I have any of the equipment that we could use to blow the explosive away from the detonators"

"I could have just magic'ed the explosive away from the detonators," Willow sighed, "but unfortunately, whoever did this rigged up a collapsing _magical _ detonator circuit too"

Reeman and Devon glanced at her in shock, "a collapsing _magical _ detonator circuit?"

She was not amused, "ike a experienced bomb man suddenly found out they could do magic and started combining the two"

"Okay," Reeman shrugged, "if the subtle approach's aint gonna work, what about unsubtle"

Willow glanced at him incredulously, "they have what feels like Ten Kilos of C-4 on the other side of that door, plus some other explosives. I think 'unsubtle' is covered"

Devon let out a yikes and Reeman blinked.

"Okay," he conceded, "unsubtle had been covered"

"That much explosive, "Devon said, glancing around the shaft, "would at the very least, collapse this shaft. We would likely be looking at the collapse of two or more floors within the SGC itself. We do not want that device going off"

"Can you magic the whole mess elsewhere" Reeman asked.

The witch shook her head," if all goes well then the effort would put me out of the rest of the fight, but I wouldn't bet on it going to plan"

"Right, "Reeman agreed firmly with that statement, he hadn't been in the services long, but he had been in long enough that planning for everything to go perfect was the height of stuipidity, "what about killing the magical detonator?"

"Collapsing circuit" Willow shook her head, "whoever did this wanted to brag, there was nothing to prevent even the least skilled witch looking, in fact, they were a few aides to such viewing built into the bomb, but the two circuits are even interconnected. If the physical goes, the magical detonates, if the magical goes, the physical detonates. There are random circuit tests on both..."

Willow frowned, then smiled, "There is too much power feeding into this and no signs of a power source, no links to an... astral power source" best not say God, not here, not in the place where the downfall of many a False God had been planned, "no magical artefacts being drained. The person has to be powering it themselves"

Devon grinned, "Going to trace the powerlines?"

"It would," Willow commented, "be very stupid of him not to have some sort of disable mechanism, and even if he has hidden it from himself, I can find it"

"Unless," Reeman pointed out, "he's paranoid and has tied in his physical and mental state to the detonator circuit... He dies and the thing detonates, his mind gets rummaged and the thing detonates"

Willow shot Reeman a Look," thank you for your pleasant thoughts"

"No problem" he replied, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at the witch.

Willow sighed inwardly, it was something to consider off course, but she would rather do so from a safe distance, such as another continent. Sitting this close to so many explosives while rummaging through the mind of the magic user who had set it up wasn't her idea of fun. Experienced Dark Mages almost always set booby traps up in their minds, just in case, the only exceptions being those too arrogant to think anyone would ever succeed in reading them.


	28. Chapter 27

Twenty-Seven

Damn good thing they kept the canteen well stocked, the man thought, keeping that mess going was very draining. Sure, it meant damn well nobody would be breaking in that way except maybe in very small pieces, but it meant all he did was eat.

He reached across, grabbing another pot of Ice Cream, and swiftly began spooning the stuff directly into his mouth. It was plain vanilla, not his favourite, but it was food, it was energy, and unless he wanted to drain himself to the point of death, or worse, have to disable his masterpiece, he needed to keep energy flowing into his body just as fast as it flowed out.

That meant eating and eating and more eating and even some drinking.

Oh yes, and lots of visits to the toilet.

It didn't occur to him that in the arrogance of assuming no-one would get past his masterpiece, he hadn't set any mental shields.

* * *

"Huh," Willow said, a little surprised as she withdrew her mind from that of the unsuspecting bomber, "that's different" 

"What's up?" Reeman asked.

Willow shrugged, "I am about to disable the bomb, according to our friend, there are just ten hostiles left down here. The gate control room and infirmary have SGC personnel inside, but in both cases they are considered to be contained and of no threat"

"Who we looking at for the ten?" Reeman asked, commanding, that kind of intelligence could make or break the mission after all.

"Mr Pierce, our big bad is here. A trio of unidentified Russians, and six creatures that the bomber' couldn't identify, but weren't human"

Willow closed her eyes, signalling that she was busy, then carefully, magically reached into the mass of the bomb and disconnected a single wire. Then, abruplt, she forced the doors open.

"That," Devon said faintly, "is a big bomb"

"That" Willow shook her head,"is an illusion and a bloody good one to have me fooled"

She froze, "did I just say bloody?"

At their nods, she shook her head, "Oh, I need to leave Britain more often"

Shrugging, she flicked her hand, dismissing the illusion, and deliberately sending feedback through the link to its master. In the cafeteria, the man collapsed, blood streaming out of his ears as his power was permanently and aggressively destroyed.

* * *

"Sir, Sir! "O'Malley looked up, surprised by the eager tone in his aide's voice,"they're in, they're in!" 

Annoyed by the babbling, the general barked an order, "Soldier, report!"

"Sir," his aide said, trying hard to calm himself down, "Willow reports that they are inside the SGC and are making their way to the gateroom"

O'Malley grinned, but hiss Aide was suddenly still, serious, "She also reports that there are ten kilos of C-4 near the bottom of the shaft. Primary detonator circuit is out, but there are live circuits left linked to anti-handling devices. She suggests extreme caution; she hasn't informed her team that they just walked over a live device"

The General shivered, "I should fucking hope so, Jesus, Ten Kilos"

"Sir", both General and Aide glanced up as a Private, his arm in a sling, walked up," team twelve just hit the top of the shaft"

"Twelve, that's Gibbs"

O'Malley grunted, "Pass on the message about the explosives"

* * *

Doctor Frasier glanced around the infirmary once more, taking a close look at each of her patients. These, she supposed were the lucky ones, they at least were alive, for now. 

But if Pierce had his way

That was why the had the Infirmary sealed shut instead of killing everyone like he did elsewhere, he knew it wouldn't matter, he knew they weren't going to survive, why not let them rot and curse and scream for mercy as they realised they were about to die?

"Arsehole" she muttered, picking up the chart of Colonel Sumner, she glanced at it once more, but really she didn't need to.

Six broken bones, a lung she had only just re-inflated in time, Sumner would live, at least until Pierce had his way. Most of these would live, a few, well, she couldn't save them all, not her and only one nurse. The rest of her staff, well, most were dead, two were on trolleys, patients themselves, a few she didn't know about, but she suspected they were dead too.

Right now, only she was awake in the midst of this mass of pain and suffering, her nurse, Helen, having fallen asleep on her feet an hour ago. She couldn't sleep, not whilst she had so many patients to look after and no relief, no signs of relief coming soon either. Frasier sat down slowly, reaching for her sixth coffee of the hour, wishing somebody would come and save her from all this.

She slammed upwards, fully alert, what was that?

Sounded like a...

The sound came again, and Frasier grinned, P-90. She had heard the sounds of these weapons far too often to mistake them now. Hopefully it was a rescue, and not just another group of personnel being discovered and killed, like had happened three hours. Pierce had been quick to gloat over the phone about that, happy to impress upon her the hopelessness of her situation.

Arsehole.

A loud bang sounded at the door, waking her Nurse, and together, they grabbed their guns, pointing them at the now smoking doors, just in case.

 _"Sergeant Reeman, 1st Infantry. Put down your weapons!" _

Tearfully happy, she dropped her weapon, it was a rescue.

* * *

"We suspected as much", Reeman commented, gratefully drinking the coffee Frasier had cheerfully supplied, "Willow will get a NEST team down here fast enough. He's trying to put the SGC out of commission permanently" 

"That, "Frasier snorted, "and all of Colorado"

"What?" Reeman stilled, "how?"

"You don't know?" the Doctor replied, suddenly still,"the gate, he plans to detonate nukes right next to the gate"

"So?" Devon asked, "I assume that's because he sees the gate as what lost him his daughter"

Frasier shook her head, "its naquadah, a superconductor but it can be used to enhance thermonuclear explosions"

"Exactly," Devon carefully asked, "how much can it enhance an explosion by?"

Frasier swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, "A factor of ten"

* * *

"There's another team just past the shaft" Willow pointed out, "I think we are going to need them" 

Reeman nodded, waving four of the team to go retrieve the second team.

"So," Devon asked, "what do we do?"

"Well," Reeman firmly said, "under no circumstances must that bomb go off"

"That's for definite," Willow commented, "I'm going to take a look"

"Right," Reeman nodded as Willow closed her eyes, signalling that whilst her body might be in the room, her mind certainly wasn't, "if the bomb is rigged, then we are going to need that NEST team, hell, we are going to need that NEST team regardless"

"We can't plan on having the time to wait for them though" Devon reasonably pointed out, "which means we need to be able to disable or remove that device"

"Chucking it through the gate would be nice," Reeman commented.

Frasier shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the peculiar behaviour of the red head, "whilst the gate should have enough energy stored for a manual dial-out, you would need a valid address to send it too, and you would have to be sure of what was on the other side of the gate, we don't want to send it to an inhabited world"

"What about the dialling computer?" Devon asked.

"Most likely out, there has been fighting in that section of the base. Plus, you would need somebody who knows how to operate it and has authority"

"Siler," Willow frowned, her eyes opening, "Hammond and Selmac are in the control centre"

"Siler and Selmac have authority, if that's a younger Hammond, then she wont" Frasier's look was one of pure curiosity now, though there was more understanding in it, she had seen enough weird stuff over the years not to be fazed by somebody who could apparently sense other beings.

"Then, she froze, "General Carter?"

Willow shook her head, "no sign of him"

"Then where," the Doctor asked, "is Selmac?"

"Inside Siler," Willow sighed, "He's old you know, from what I could sense, Selmac doesn't think he has long left"

"This isn't time for that, "Reeman commented, ""he bomb?"

"Which one?" Willow shivered," I sensed five active devices right beside the gate, as well as some very determined guards"


	29. Chapter 28

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

Thank you to the three reviewers:Rankukonalpha1: heh, you skimmed over a bit... they split.  
sithspawn: this was partly deliberate, an attempt at trying to inject some of the confusion into the story itself...  
greyangle: when the brown and sticky stuff hits the fan, people die. and unlike the show itself, i dont believe that character shields are UBER

**Twenty-Eight**

"Halt," Gibbs shouted, weapon raised, she recognized the armband, but considering the previous time she had met a fellow team, it was best to be careful, "identify yourself!"

"Private First Class Hendricks, Team One," the figure barked back, "Reeman sent me to retrieve you"

Retrieve us... Nice attitude!

"We got survivors in the infirmary and live nukes by the Stargate"

Live Nukes; did he just say live nukes?

"Did you just...?"

"Fuck yea, rounding up everyone we can, we gonna have to move fast, unless you got some factor five-million on you"

Gibbs decided that now was not the time to argue.

"Where's your Council member?"

She growled, "dead"

"Damn, that sucks" Hendricks replied.

"Maybe," Gibbs spat out, "but I find it difficult to fell sorry for her"

Hendricks glanced at Gibbs in shocked anger, but he forced himself to stay calm, "I gather you had an entirely different experience of the council to us"

She grunted, annoyed.

* * *

"Latest report from Willow sir," 

O'Malley glanced up, wearily, he needed a break, a rest, but until his men got one, neither would he.

"Infirmary survivor's number twenty-six, only two are mobile. Two humans, one symbiote alive inside gate control, and there are five active devices planted on the gate"

The General cursed, that was, to put it mildly, a problem.

"The gate is still being blocked by an incoming wormhole, but they have successfully retrieved Gibbs team"

"How far out are the NEST teams?" O'Malley asked.

"Team One was ambushed, lost half their escort but are pushing through. Team Two is in a base area where the radio repeaters are out, for the moment, we have no contact but they were at full strength"

"Noted," O'Malley asked. Inwardly, he was cursing, in both cases, neither could be anywhere near the shafts, which meant they would be lucky to reach the Gate in time to make any difference, and neither of the teams approaching the gate had any nuclear qualifications, beyond how to recognise a bomb.

It looked as if they were screwed, unless somebody could pull their heads out of the fire again.

* * *

"Okay," Gibbs said, glancing down the corridor, "this is new" 

Well, Willow shrugged, "maybe determined wasn't the right word"

"No," Gibbs was keeping an eye on this Council rep, sure she hadn't yet shown the arrogance of Kennedy, but she had learned not to trust them, "try dead' or maybe zombies'"

Willow raised a sardonic eyebrow at the bad tempered soldier, "Somebody needs a chill-pill"

"Willow," Reeman asked, "can you?"

"No," she shook her head, "I don't have unlimited power, and it's been a long day. I need to preserve all the energy I have now, I have a feeling we are going to need it to deal with those nukes"

"Fair enough," Reeman shrugged, "any suggestions as to how you kill these things?"

The witch winced, "head shots are your best bet, you need to destroy their brains"

Gibbs and Reeman glanced at the mass of zombies that was just waiting for them to make their move down the corridor and as one, they muttered, "great"

"Hey," Devon said, leaning forward, "a lot of them are still in combat gear"

"So?" Reeman asked.

"We have a bunch of zombies," Devon said seriously, "who are very tightly packed together and just happen to be wearing explosives"

"Ahh," Gibbs smiled, "right"

"Blast doors down on the gateroom, blast door to gate Control looks to be down too..." Reeman smiled, perfect

"Okay," Willow frowned, "what's going on?"

"Fratricide" Devon replied, a satisfied smirk crossing her face.

""Fratricide?" The frown vanished, replaced by a pleased grin, "nice"

"Would you care" Devon smirked as she passed her last three grenades to Willow, "to do the honours?"

Willow nodded; she could spare enough energy for this. In all likelihood, she was going to sleep for the next fortnight once she finally got out of her though.

The two teams backed off, vanishing behind a corner as Willow ran the grenades along the ceiling of the corridor, leaving them above the heads of the Zombies that were once Stargate Command Personnel.

Then, she pulled the pins, letting both pins and grenades drop into the mass of bodies, and swiftly covered her ears.

The corridor shook; smoke billowing around the corner, what few lights that remained on flickering, then turning dark. Willow paused, raising a shield ready to peak around the corner, but another explosion sounded, and she dropped the shield, wouldn't be going around that corner for a while.

Five minutes later, Devon judged that all the explosions were over and they could most likely walk past the shattered zombies. Even so, Willow raised a shield, just in case, not that she thought it would do much against an explosion right next to them, she certainly wouldn't survive it, but it might give the others a chance.

"Shit," Gibbs commented with a disgusted grimace, "the clean up crew is going to have real fun IDing all these parts for burial"

"Geez whiz," Willow commented sarcastically, "you sure know how to brighten up the mood don't you?"

"Are they all dead?" Reeman asked.

"Of course," Willow replied, "they couldn't be turned into zombies if they weren't"

Reeman rolled his eyes," I meant..."

"I know what you meant, and I don't know, best be ready"

* * *

"Somebody," Airman Hammond said, more then a tint of fear and hysteria in her voice, "just had a party" 

Selmac frowned, "but who? We need to know"

"No cameras active," Hammond shuddered, "only way we can find out is to open that door and I don't want to do that anytime soon, not with those things out there"

Selmac herself shuddered, she had seen many things during her life, but those, those were definitely new, "point, but if it's a rescue party we need to let them know there are people alive in here"

"So," the airman replied, "use the fucking radio; just don't open that door till you know"

Selmac blinked, profanity aside; that was a sensible suggestion. "They should certainly pick up the gate radio at this range. Unfortunately, the batteries have drained"

Hammond glanced frowning at Selmac as she reached below the desk and grabbed a standard hand held radio unit, holding it up for the Tok'ra to see. Siler would almost certainly have known about those, so why didn't Selmac? After all, she had spotted them as soon as she had been chased into the room.

Something wasn't quite right here.

* * *

"Boss, we got Selmac on the horn in the control room," 

Reeman glanced back at Devon with a smile, "good, that will make getting in and getting his co-operation a little easier"

"Maybe, but she doesn't quite sound 100"

"Noted," Reeman shook his head, "and not really surprised, okay, tell him we're coming in, and make sure he gets that damn door open. Everyone, we're going to have to pay another visit to the two way range"

"Hopefully", Gibbs grimaced, "there will be none of those things left alive"

* * *

O'Malley grimaced, the addition of some air support, even if it was somewhat unusual, had been a hell of a boon, right now they either controlled every entrance to the mountain or had it mined to a fair-thee-well. 

They controlled who went in and out of the mountain now, though there control was tenuous, a serious attack would be able to punch through their lines with little difficulty.

The constant trickle of units, equipment, even individual soldiers that were arriving to reinforce his forces was a great help, but it wasn't enough. His tank boys were damn near full strength but this wasn't their playfield, this was an infantry battlefield and his infantry had taken damn near 50 percent casualties so far.

Still, whilst they would need to be relieved to continue holding the mountain, retaking it, now that was a task that was nearly complete. Just the gateroom itself now and those blasted nukes


	30. Chapter 29

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Twenty-nine**

"Commodore, we've intercepted an urgent request for air support from the African Exclusion Zone, they have no birds in the air, no anti-air missiles left and are being mauled by Cobra gunships"

Peters raised an eyebrow, "demons and fanatics working together I get, but fanatics bright enough to use Cobra's? Send a half-squadron, I want those birds downed"

"Aye Commodore, London is also screaming for assistance, they state that they have lost control of the hellmouth"

"Send a full squadron, and keep the other half-squadron on Cap"

"Commodore," Lieutenant Brown carefully continued, very aware of the large and painful bandage covering much of his face, "if I might suggest, the _Lancers _ have refitted hard points which can take ground support ops, the _F-302's _ don't, yet. There are eight _F-302s _available from the 6 th Starfighter Wing, send four to Africa, keep four on Cap. Send the remaining _Lnacers _ to London, but rigged for ground support, the skies are already under control, even if nothing else is"

Peters glanced up at the Canadian, surprised,"that's good, do it. Thinking on taking over the tactical position? It has," she continued bitterly, "just opened up"

Brown just shook his head and perhaps wisely, didn't say anything as he walked back to his station.

* * *

"Right," Lucien said, carefully pointing at the tall, golden structure through the thick hedge that's one of their anti-air guns. "As long as those are active, our boys won't get air support, they're just too blasted good" 

"So, we kill the batteries?"

"Yes," Lucien replied calmly, "on the plus side, the more will kill, the safer the environment will become for any birds on ground support. Also on the plus side, we kill enough and the enemy will start to pay attention. On the negative side, they will be paying attention to _us" _

Paxton glanced across at his hidden men, catching their short, abrupt nods, "well, they're talking nukes and I'm afraid I don't like the thought of more nukes being dropped on my home country, especially not this close to the capital. If we have to die to make a difference, reduce the chances of those nukes getting used, so be it"

Lucien grimaced, unfortunately, "I have to agree, I don't like nukes, but hey, my kids have to live with whatever happens here today"

"We're reservists," Paxton commented, "most of us work most of the week, then go home to our families, and spend the weekend training. Most of us have families to go home to"

"Well, "Lucien smiled, "we know who we are doing this for then"

Paxton nodded, and turned back to observing the weapon in front of them, "might I suggest we kill the crewman with sniper fire first, that thing looks like there is nothing to stop it attacking ground targets and that would not be fun"

"Ten Jaffa guards" Lucien mused, "we have them outnumbered but we've still got a lot of targets to kill, we would certainly want to make sure that they didn't get another gunner in there, we also want to avoid casualties"

"Fire from cover" Paxton shrugged.

Lucien grimaced, "those blasted weapons are good at setting things on fire, the only cover round here is hedges and trees which will burn"

"Trees" Paxton mused, "Can we draw off a few into that thicket to your left, kill them silent then attack the tower?"

Lucien nodded, "divide and conquer, that tower would swing to cover the thicket if they heard gunfire from there as would the guards, so we could hit from behind"

"So," Paxton grinned, "no need to be silent then. You would have to snipe though, my boys aren't so good at that"

Lucien nodded, "I suggest you take the trees, take twenty bodies with you. The rest of us will swing around; get the trees and tower inline and attack as soon as we hear your party kick off"

"Agreed," Paxton replied, "and carefully signalled his twenty, before moving out, making as much use of the cover as they could."

* * *

Lucien watched, waiting as the Jaffa held their positions around the tower, Paxton would make his move soon, then they would have this tower gone, and a mere four move in the immediate vicinity to take care of. 

They would unfortunately be alerted by this ones loss, but you couldn't have everything.

A single gunshot sounded from the woods and Lucien jerked in surprise, thinking way to grab their attention Paxton!

Worked though, he had to admit, as six of the ten guards charged off into the woods, the tower as expected swinging across to face the small thicket.

Carefully, he brought his rifle to bear, any second now

The thicket erupted into a full firefight, and Lucien gently squeezed the trigger.

The gunner slumped, the nose of the weapons battery slumping silent to the ground before it had a chance to fire. Besides Lucien, his soldiers opened fire, quickly cutting down the remaining four Jaffa guards.

Within seconds, all gunfire ceased, the countryside going quiet once more, except for the sounds of a battle in the distance.

Ducking, Lucien ran for the battery, it would make a good high point to see the surrounding weapons before he had to destroy it.

* * *

The gateroom was theirs, at last, Reeman noted, they were at the very gate of the stargate itself. Okay, metaphor usage could use it a little work but it was accurate. 

Unfortunately, they still had to take the gateroom itself and that was where the enemy was reading their final stand, just waiting for them to open the blast doors and charge through.

They came in through one entrance they would be mown down, they attacked from multiple directions and the field of fire the enemy would have would mean many of theirs would fall, but they would have a shot at killing the last of the gate defenders.

Naturally, Reeman noted, there were complications

According to the few radio transmissions from the surface they had been able to receive as they filtered down through the old silo, the top of the silo, the guards exit route was now under friendly control, they would not be able to escape that way and the enemy already knew this. Translation, they would fight like cornered rats and as there were terakens and demons in the mix the fight would most likely be bloody and could quite easily not go the attackers, his way.

Complication two, as far as they knew the loathsome ex-reporter Pierce was still in the gateroom and he had control of the nukes, if he decided to detonate prematurely, that was Colorado off the map at the very least.

Complication two, the gate was active and the status of the Iris was unknown, if word got out that the assault by warship had failed and the iris proved to be open, they could be overwhelmed by hostile Jaffa and possibly supersoldiers before they could react, at which point it was game over as the battered defenders above the mountain would not hold out for long at all, not in their current state.

Complication three, their big gun was definitely running a little low on ammo. He couldn't blame her, she had been raising shields, pulling telekinetic tricks and reading minds all over the place to support the advance but now, at the most crucial point, she was reaching the end of her stamina. He had all the spare water and high energy bars they could trust given to the witch, and it had helped a bit, but he knew that she would not last much longer.

And somehow, with the meagre personnel available, he had to retake the Stargate and ensure the security of the planet.

He checked his watch, once more daylight should be caressing the mountain above, but down here, in this shattered hulk of a mountain, you really couldn't tell what time of day it was. Pity, he could do with a little something to brighten up the day for him.

He knew that before the hour was up, it would all be over and that being true, he might regret not getting one last look at the sun.


	31. Chapter 30

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Thirty**

_"Fall back! Fall back!" _

Rico cursed, his legs pounding the ground, desperately glancing over his shoulder every few seconds, watching desperately for an attack from behind as he tried desperately to obey the barked orders over the radio and fall back into the base itself.

Beside him, a female stretcher bearer vanished, not even having time to scream as bullets tore down from above and tossed her and the soldier she was trying desperately to carry to safety across the ground, where they laid, unmoving, shattered, bloody and broken.

Rico's eyes screamed his pain and terror, but he resisted the urge to fire his rifle uselessly at the cobra gunships that had torn their battleline apart, and instead his mouth set into a grim line, he ran, faster, all the time ignoring the bloody and occasionally screaming bodies of his friends, his comrades as they littered the ground around him.

"Good, you made it "Carl gasped, his normally sparkling uniform as tattered and torn as any other, the insignia of an intelligence officer drooping from his shoulder, now held by one last thread, just, Rico noted, like the rest of the operation, hanging on by a single thread. A thread which, like the Sword of Damocles could break at any time.

Groaning, his calves screaming the agony of the torture they had just been forced through, Rico dropped down next to his friend, his rifle back in his hands and pointing towards the enemy over the fragile cover of a collapsed and smouldering tent.

"last one it looks like" Rico grimly noted, his eyes wondering over the no-mans land between the final line of trenches and the base itself, the shattered forms strewn across it already attracting the attentions of the numerous predators that roamed the savannah. He could see their watchful eyes in the skies above and feel them across the far distant plans, but none dared approach, they all knew better.

Scattered sounds of fighting now sounded across the plains, not the full blown battle that had shattered the skies with its almighty racket mere minutes before. Rico looked, and then gazed upwards, sending a prayer to any god that might be willing to look after their fallen this day.

"They're cleaning up" Carl noted, almost sounding dispassionate, but the act was broken by the break at the end of his voice, "that's an aid camp, about forty wounded soldiers in there, we couldn't get them away in time"

"And now," Rico noted angrily, hatefully, "they're just food for those monsters"

W"ho is in command now?" Rico asked, as he noticed the lack of activity, the lack of co-ordination over the radio nets

"I don't know, I think Rasczak has bought it, the rest of the command chain is long gone"

"Then I am assuming command of the mission" Rico glanced grimly across the battlefield, "signal fleet for an evac, we're leaving. Then, they can glass this fucking rock"

"Aye," Carl said wearily, "I'll need to find a working distance radio"

* * *

"They're wise now" Paxton noted, his glasses held firmly by his eyes as he gazed over the next of the Jaffa's small anti-air positions. 

"Maybe, but they are certainly more wary about abandoning their positions" Lucien noted, "and we cant afford too many more casualties, we're down to fourty-three bodies as it is"

"We've killed ten batteries though"" Paxton pointed out, "just annoying, well, its damned annoying that the brillcream boys haven't figured it out yet"

"Bloody flyboys are often a little slow on the uptake" Lucien noted, "okay, we wont be drawing any attackers off this time, they're wise to that, and sniping each one off is too slow, especially when the bastards start to panic and fire off wildly, I'm afraid the terrain they're dead centre of a two mile long field, we aren't going to outflank them fast enough, its got to be frontal assault"

"Okay," Paxton nodded, "I'll warn the boys"

* * *

_"Bright boy! Bright boy!" _

Heart heavy, the Supreme Allied Commander, France, walked out of his tent, placed the heavy duty sunglasses over his eyes, and found the city of Paris, smoke from numerous fires blackening the sky over the once proud and beautiful city.

He closed his eyes, cursing once more the necessity of the decision he had been forced to make, a decision that would make his name go down in infamy for as long as history existed.

He didn't want this, he wanted the city saved, liberated, brought back into the light, but he couldn't. Every soldier who died here was one less who could help retake the London Hellmouth, who could protect the vital but beleaguered aid convoys as they made their way into France, who could enforce order where there was none.

One less soldier who would return one day to their mothers, their fathers, their wives and their children.

One more letter for him to write when already, he had had to write hundreds, nearly a thousand.

Oh yes, he wanted Paris back, but he knew his duty and he didn't have the time, the ammunition, the personnel, the sheer _luxury _ of bringing the city of lights back into the dawn.

His tool this day was a tactical device, some of the city at least would survive, but he was damned glad that satellite recon had confirmed that their were no significant naquadah sources registering within the city itself anymore.

A flash scorched his eyeballs, the brightness searing painful despite the heavy sunglasses, his closed eye lids. He waited five seconds, and watched as a searing ball of hellfire rose into the skies above the ruin that was once Paris.

He waited, and then came the unnatural wind, the result of the sudden superheating of air above the city and the gases subsequent expansion. It roared past him, and it seemed to him that it was screaming the cities fear and hatred at its desecration by the traitors, and its despair and fear at being destroyed by the one who was supposed to save it.

He noted wearily once, gazing across at a sudden much altered skyline, much of the city reduced to naught but rubble, the reached down swiftly, pulling his pistol from its holster.

He pulled back the safety, placed the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger and knew pain.

As he faded into blackness, he heard his faithful aide's voice, softly speaking.

Sorry sir, but I know you too well, and I am the one who loads your guns

With a mental curse, he knew he would leave to see the dawn once more.


	32. Chapter 31

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Thirty-One**

_At this point, we do not know who detonated the device or why a thermonuclear device was detonated inside Paris but at this point, many fingers at being pointed at the allied forces now moving swiftly into the city. _

_Indeed, many parallels are already being drawn between this event and the detonations by the Americans which destroyed the Japanese Cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the Second World War _

* * *

_Unconfirmed reports from our British allies suggest the use of nuclear devices on English soil may have been authorised. We don't have exact details at this point in time, the situation in and around London is currently highly unstable and unsafe, but an advisory was recorded off the radio advising citizens of what to do if they are caught in the vicinity of a nuclear detonation. _

_Britain as you know has already suffered severe damage at the hands of thermonuclear devices with the now abandoned and largely unpoliced Exeter exclusion zone in the very south of the country. How this nation will survive further such explosions is unknown, what is known is that refugees continue to stream into the north of the country, as well as into Wales and Ireland. _

* * *

_An as yet unconfirmed report from the Kremlin suggests that as many as five regiments may already be on-route to the beleaguered island nation of Britain today to assist in the retaking of London from the Goa'uld. Whilst the Kremlin is refusing to comment on the record, the fact that their has been an unusual amount of activity indicative of an airlift operation at several airbases and civilian airfields across the country has not been denied _

* * *

_These are the first pictures we have from the inside of the Cheyenne Mountain complex, Colorado. Once the proud home of NORAD and Stargate Command, this facility now lies in tatters. _

_Everywhere you look, there are empty shell cases, the walls are pitted with bullet holes and less identifiable marks and at every corner there is a body, either one of our brave soldiers who fell retaking this part of the mountain, a staffer unable to get out of the mountain in time or the shattered form of a mercenary in the pay of Mr Pierce. More often then not, the bodies are unidentifiable and they rarely come in ones and twos. _

_I don't know if you can quite hear it, but just drifting up the lift shaft behind me in the sound of loud, intense gun fire. _

_Several hundred so far confirmed dead and it's not over, not be a long shot _

* * *

_This report from the field will be brief, I have no intentions of hanging around here a second longer then is necessary least I become trapped. The American and British forces sent to take this small patch of land have been decimated, destroyed by an army, a horde of alien monsters and their fanatic, cultist worshippers. _

_Bodies in there hundreds line the shattered ground outside the camp, but there numbers slowly dwindle as there bodies are consumed, desecrated by the hostiles. All the prepared lines of defence have fallen and the fight is now inside the encampment. _

_You can see it on the bitter, determined faces of the surviving soldiers, mostly support personnel now as they face off against the aliens. They have been defeated, but they refuse to give up wit5hout a fight. They will sell their lives dearly; make the enemy pay with their blood for every soldier they kill. _

_Its noble, but at the same time hopeless, They cannot hope to hold, indeed their main attackers now come from the air and what little air support these few had is long gone. _

_This is... Oh my God! Did you? Tell me you caught that? _

_One of the Cobra gunships that has been tearing the defenders apart just exploded, it looked bent, almost melted in the centre as it dropped towards the ground... _

_Something is certainly going on here... _

_The attackers are disoriented slightly, they don't appear to have been expecting that, and our boys are capitalising, firing short controlled but lethal busts. _

_I have no idea who exactly is in charge of the remaining forces now, but I am not going to distract them by asking. _

_That's... _

_That's a second, a second Cobra just died. The surviving three are no longer attacking ground targets; they appear... they appear to be looking for an air target. There may be jet in the area now, I can't see or hear one through, but that means little. _

_Three... a third Cobra is down, and... yes, yes, we have a fighter, George, if you could focus on that right, thanks. _

_I can't identify the craft... sorry crafts, I can see at least two now, but they may be Lancers. They certainly aren't a standard allied fighter. _

_Despite the sudden appearance of air support and the death... yes, they are all now dead, of the hostile attack helicopters there is no jubilation in the camp, just grim determination. They know that unless reinforcement comes soon the camp will still fall, all it will change is the number of the enemy who dies, especially if the air support came bearing party favours _

* * *

"This is Iron Eagle, Tango Urilla base, respond" 

"This is Iron Eagle, Tango Urilla base respond"

With a worried wrown, Doug glanced out of the cockpit of the _Lancer _ IS he was currently strapped into, and glanced down at the turmoil on the ground below.

"Fuck it, we're carrying enough hardware to level a city and we can't use it because we need ground to tell us where to us it fuck!"

"I hear you Eagle, I would suggest strafing runs but I'm getting intermittent hits on anti-air frequencies, somebody down there still has some missiles and it isn't out boys"

"Right, call in the _Paladins. _ Shad, we'll just have to be handy on the triggers should any guy get frisky with a SAM, but we need somebody on the ground with a working radio, we can't wait for them to get their act together"

"Copy, are you sure you want to drop extra troops into that?"

Doug nodded, wearily, "I'm afraid so, we need to take control of the situation now. If we get enough troops dropped in now, get the air to ground circuit up so they can tell us where they want our ammo maybe, just maybe we can hold them off"

"Copy, Shad, to Ibanez, you have a go, be advised LZ is scorching, repeat, LZ is scorching"

* * *

_To: London Gatwick, London Heathrow, London Stansted  
__From: Civil Aviation Authority  
__Priority: Most Immediate  
__RE: Airlift_

Estimated ETA for first wave revised: 35Minutes  
Inform all support personnel to stand ready.


	33. Chapter 32

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Thirty-Two**

Reeman waited, his hand resting, waiting on the single jury-rigged control that would allow them to open the final set of blast doors and enter the gateroom itself. He glanced across, quickly checking the readiness of his teams, his people one last time.

They were ready, or at least as ready as they would ever be.

Not that anyone was ever truly ready to die of course, and that was certainly what a few of them would be doing today.

A whirring sounded, closing in the distance, and weapon raised in his other hand, he glanced down the smoky corridor, hoping that it wasn't another enemy coming up to their rear.

The smoke solidified, a dark shape, and then fled, allowing the dark shape of a MALP to appear in his vision. Nodding, Reeman smiled, tightly, relieved.

Their cover was here, he hadn't been sure that Devon would manage to jury-rig one of them in time, but still, he knew she would hurry and he knew she would give it her all. Apparently, her all was enough for the task at hand. Now, they at least would have some cover as they entered this last, unholy battlefield.

He nodded at his people, and nodding acknowledgement of his unspoken order, they made one last check of their weapons and armour. A second nod, and Gibbs and the survivors of her team darted behind the blackened shape of the MALP as it slowly yet surely moved towards the blastdoor.

They had volunteered for the most dangerous part of this deadly assault, the initial breech. Even with the protection provided by the bulk of the heavy remote utility vehicle, they knew they would most likely all die, yet they had volunteered anyway.

Reeman knew he would never forget the understanding and determination in their eyes as they stepped forward to a man, however long a life he might actually have left. Of course, they wouldn't be assaulting on their own, his own people were arrayed on both sides of the door, weapons at ready, waiting to give the few what supporting fire they could, assisted by the few able Stargate Command personnel, but they had a different primary task.

Keep the NEST boys alive, and make sure their valiant assistant Willow didn't do something rash which would drain her of the last of her reserves. That last few drops of power she had was their backup plan, meagre though it now was, and if anything happened to her, all this could literally be for naught.

A last nod, and swiftly, he dropped his hand, finally completing the electrical circuit.

With a rasping, screeching whir of protesting motors, the heavy solid metal door began its swift journey upwards.

* * *

"He can't be serious!" 

"He can be," _Carman _ shrugged, "and I know him to well to think he's joking. Not about this, not in this situation"

"So," Zander grimaced, "we have orders from fleet to drop and orders from some jumped up turkey who thinks he's a battalion commander to rig for evac, geez, what do we do?"

"Drop the sarcasm, and strap in for drop," Carman glanced out the window and shuddered, "at the moment though, he probably thinks he's just a platoon leader, everyone else..."

Grimacing at the callousness of his own words, Zander swung around in his restraining harness, and shouted into the passenger compartment, "landing in 15 seconds... LZ is hot; expect retreating friendly's on the ground and perimeter breeches"

"Damnit," Zander cursed, as the _Paladin _ shuddered, abruptly, viscously, alarms blaring absurdly melodically in the harsh, smoky cockpit, "What was that?"

"Missile close aboard," she resisted the urge to curse, it wasn't something she had gotten herself a name for and even now, she wasn't going to start, "we can land but I don't think we'll be taking off again"

"Great," Zander shook his head, his hands racing over the control panels as he sought and failed to disprove the younger pilot's appraisal. With an annoyed sigh, he turned his head, shouting at the suddenly fearful soldiers to strap in, as beside him, Carman made the call.

"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, this is _Paladin _ Mike-Hotel Six-Four-Zero, callsign _Roger Young. _ We are going down, I repeat, we are going down"

* * *

_"Hold the line," _Lucien roared, his voice sounding loud, clear and determined despite the racket as around him, staffs, zats, rifles and machine guns spat their grim songs of death, _"Don't let the buggers through" _

_"There is no retreat from here, men!" _Paxton _ "You must die where you stand" _

_"Ay Ay, Sir Colin if needs be we'll do that" _, but Lucien added, "we aren't Scottish and this sure as hell isn't the Battle of Balaclava!"

"Sure as hell feels like it," Paxton noted, dropping his depleted rifle for a pistol, as another volley of fire saw Jaffa dying in droves as they attempted to break the soldier's positions, "and we could _really _ do with a charge of the heavy brigade right now"

Paxton blinked, and then gaped as right in front of his eyes a large piece of English countryside vanished beneath a boiling mass of flames, incidentally killing a lot of Jaffa. Coolly, he glanced up, finally noticing the roaring as a trio of _Tornado _ bombers vanished swiftly into the distance.

"Of course," he casually noted, "air support will do just fine too"

"We must have killed enough of those blasted anti-air guns for them to start risking low level operations again," Reeman noted.

"Probably," Paxton reached back down for his rifle as the Jaffa began to retreat, confused, awed and broken by the loses that in an eyeblink had been inflicted upon them, "blast, do you suppose they could chuck us some more ammo? I appear to be out..."

* * *

_Scattered fighting around Paris as the city is left to burn, hot, fiery and out of control. So far, the allied forces have reported five serious attempts by cultist controlled forces to break out of the city, however each has been repulsed. _

_Despite demands from several world leaders for the allies to retake the city and stop the fires, as yet no such attempt has been made, however fifteen minutes ago the new Allied Commander, General Fielding, reported that under the conditions of elevated radiation and hostile forces, any attempt to put out the fires with the equipment currently available would lead to failure' _

_Reports that reinforcements, to include several Fire Companies have been requested have not yet been confirmed _

* * *

_Heavy fighting, all around me is chaos as alien Staffs into the retreating line of British Soldiery. They are inside the city itself now, but this is where the British are showing their mettle, this is where they are king. No other nation has the same level of experience in city fighting and the same quality of training and equipment. _

_It is showing, for every soldier that falls, at least ten Jaffa appear to drop and yet the Jaffa are still winning. They have the numbers to accept a battle of attrition and the British don't, not by any stretch of the imagination. _

_Already, we are seeing increasing numbers of Police Swat units and scratch companies of civilians joining the defensive line despite the ongoing evacuation of the city. _

_Whether they can hold long enough for reinforcements to arrive is unknown, what is known is that finally Air Support is starting to arrive. At the moment, the Apaches and Tornadoes are concentrating on killing anti-air weaponry but when they are gone, they will surely make their presence felt _


	34. Chapter 33

**Thank you to both reviewers... :p**

** rankukonalpha1: **thank you

**greyangle: **heh, fubar given form... i like it! better then a dream given form...

**Thirty-Three**

It was chaos, pure unadulterated chaos.

And it was malevolent, fuelled by hatred, fear and desperation.

Bullets flying backwards and forth, the loud, ringing singing of ricochets, the screaming of the wounded and dying, the shouted orders, grunts and cries of those still fighting, the sparking of shorting electrical cables, all emphasised by the strobe light flickering of the few lights that hadn't died in the first seconds of firing.

A whoosh, then a flickering, eerily red light as liquid flame poured from behind the gate, dancing around its base, reaching eagerly for the feet of those stood on the metal ramp above.

Reeman didn't know if his miss-thrown grenade had caused that, or a ricochet, nor did he care, this wasn't a time for thinking; this was a time for doing and reacting.

Like he was doing, a looted P-90 in his hands, spitting death towards anyone whom approached and wasn't one of his. Pity any poor SGC personnel who might have been held prisoner here, but he didn't have the time to be more selective, not here and now.

He caught a glimpse of something out the corner of his eye, and dived, cursing behind the protective bulk of the battered, limping and blood-splattered MALP.

A shudder, an impression of noise on his sound-deadened eardrums, a feeling of something tearing at his feet, then pain.

Pain, terrible, tearing, aching and burning.

He had been hit, hadn't dived fast enough, in his job that was always a risk. A part of him wondered how he could be so analytical at a time like this; another part knew he was in shock from his injuries.

Another part of him, the one that kept the sliver oak leaf on his DDSM from being posthumous, was already checking the P-90 over for damage with one eye, whilst the other swept his surroundings for threats.

It was this second eye that brought him up short, as horrified, but somehow not surprised it noted blood pouring from where his feet used to be.

He didn't know how long he stayed still, gazing shocked at the stumps, all he knew was that it was a distinct impression of heat on his back that got him jerking back to reality, his face contorted with fear as he realized the flickering, burning heat of the fire was far to close for safety, and rolling towards him furiously.

Desperate fear had him moving towards the lone open doorway out of the gateroom, he didn't want to die, no solider ever did, but if he had to choose a way to die, it certainly would not be by burning to death. Just the thought was enough to get the adrenaline flowing faster, his heart desperately pumping more of his precious blood out of his torn and amputated legs onto the hard concrete of the base.

It was with great relief that he felt pressure on his back; a heavy jerking bringing his body upwards off the floor, his legs sending pure shards of unadulterated pain into his body as his was dragged, fast and hard with no thought except to keep him away from the flames and the awful death that would bring to him.

There was a whirring, an impression of bring dropped, then a moment of pure unholy agony and Reeman knew no more.

* * *

"Okay… okay," Willow knew she probably sounded hysterical right now, but frankly she didn't care, if there ever was a time for hysterics, this was certainly it, "Gibbs… Gibbs!" 

"She's dead," Devon screamed at her, tears running down her soot marked face, leaving strangely clean tracks amongst the blackness, "she's dead Willlow, dead!"

"Okay, okay," Willow breathed hard and fast, desperate to get some control, desperate to clear her mind of the desperate madness she had managed to escape from, "detail two bodies, get Reeman up to the Doc, and fast, otherwise we're going to lose him"

Gibbs nodded; her hand flicking as she pointed to the walking wounded. They didn't have space for dead weight right now, and frankly she couldn't spare anyone able bodied to get Reeman away. It was best if the injured made their own way to the infirmary, taking their less able comrades with them.

Willow sighed, her chest heaving as she strained to get air into her lungs, coughs raking her body as the hot sooty air damaged her slowly, but surely. She shook her head, desperately forcing discipline upon herself, shoving the discomfort in her lungs to the back of her mind, making the coughing stop.

It was a trick, an act of pure will the coven had taught her, and she knew she would pay for it dearly later. This wasn't a time for thoughts of the future, this was the last desperate act to stop an apocalypse, this was a time for thinking of the now. The later could wait… till later, assuming there was one.

"Nest… where's the Nest boys?" she shouted, smiling tightly as a small, battered group of men stepped forwards towards her. Good, if none of them had survived then they would really have been in shit.

"Did you get a look at the devices?"

"No, didn't see them, Geiger was spiking though but that might have been the gate itself…"

"I saw them," Devon stepped forward, "behind the gate, resting on what looked like an emergency generator and some fuel drums"

"Nothing like that was on the SGC's plans," the Nest guy who appeared to be in charge noted.

Willow just shook her head, not even able to feel surprise anymore, must have brought it with them. "What's the risk with the fire….?"

"In theory, there is no risk" the man shrugged, "each device should maintain full containment. Unfortunately, I certainly am not putting any money on the heat disabling the devices"

"We certainly cant get back at the device, we be burned to a crisp before we could even get close," Devon stepped forward, resting one hand on the heavy but now closed metal door to the gateroom itself. The hand didn't stay there long, Devon withdrawing it with a swift curse. She didn't need to say what that meant.

"No, we can get at the device," Willow smiled sadly at Devon, "just not through conventional means"

"Do you have strength enough for that Willow? After all you have done?"

She sighed, her tone heavy, "I have no choice, I will have to have the strength needed, but what I don't have is the knowledge. I will be the tool but I must" she turned to face the small, three strong group of Nest personnel, "have one of you to act as the brain. Understand this, if they set any traps around the device, or if I do not have the strength necessary to bring us back to our bodies afterwards, that your soul might be forfeit"

All three stepped forward with just a moments pause.

Willow smiled again, sadly heartfelt, grateful, compassionate and yet somehow defeated, as if in expectation of her death to come.

"Who knows the most about the physical side of such devices? Which one of you is most likely to be able to disable this device?"

There was a moment's pause, and then the leader stepped forward once more.

Willow nodded once, acknowledging him, "You know, I don't even know your name"

"Hale, Riley Hale M'am"

She gazed at him, uncertainly, "why do this Hale?"

He smiled, tightly, almost grinning, "If the world ends, my wife is going to kill me. Besides, this aint the first time I have had to deal with a nutjob with nukes…"

She smiled uncertainly, but nodded, sitting down carefully on the ground, gesturing the Nest agent to do the same, but close to her. He sat down, and with a groan, Willow moved across, bringing her body into physical contact with his, "sorry, but I need every little drop of energy I can scavenge and frankly, the physical connection is by the far the strongest, we will need that for what we are about to do"

Hale nodded, "you know," he noted philosophically, "this morning I didn't even believe witches exist; now I am about to mind-meld with one"

"Life," Willow noted, "is full of surprises"

Closing her eyes, she reached down, placing her hands upon the floor.

* * *

He watched her, carefully, assessing. He hadn't been kidding; he had been forced to deal with a Broken Arrow before, but that, well, that was a purely human thing. This entire mission had been something else entirely, and he was about to let a woman he didn't know into the very recesses of his mind, an act far more intimate then he had ever performed with his Terry all to save the world. 

She was right, life was full of surprises.

He frowned, was there a breeze developing?

A moment later, it blew stronger, the smoke being blown out of the corridor, for which he was grateful. Still, he couldn't hear anything that would suggest the air-con was back on, so why would there be a breeze?

His eyes rested back on Willow, then went very wide, his jaw dropping as before his eyes, her hair bleed free of all colour, turning completely, startling pure white.

A shiver of awe and respect rose form a deep dark, primitive corner of his soul, recognising at some deep old level not just the power that was being represented but the _pureness, _the inherent Goodness of it.

He didn't move, not even blink, entirely mesmerized as Willow reached for his face, her hands resting on either side of his face.

There was a moment of dislocation, then his body dropped away beneath him and Riley Hale, Nest Agent and former Air Force Pilot ascended.

* * *

There was pressure, containing him, exerting its will upon him, holding him to this place and he didn't like that. But he could do nothing against the presence, the being that held him here against his wishes. He wanted, he _needed_ at some deep and ancient level to be free, to roam the stars, to chart their infinite mysteries and play with their myriad jewels of worlds. 

But he couldn't, this unwanted one was keeping him here, whispering to him of duty, of the needs of others, of a mission. He had his mission and it wasn't here, it was amongst those fiery balls he could hear, he could feel calling to him from the heavens above.

He would lash out, force his way free, but he didn't know how, he didn't know how to injure, to cause pain, to escape. A part of him didn't like that, found it strange. He silenced that part, it was obviously an aberration.

Then the voice spoke to him again and a cold pit settled deep inside his soul, his being.

Terry.

Terry Carmichael.

His Wife.

Would he do it for her?

He remembered.

He remembered the years as Deaks partner, then the deepness of his betrayal.

He remembered the nukes going rogue, he remembered the plucky Park Ranger who had helped him recover the last one, preventing millions from dying because of the madness of one man.

He remembered kissing her, loving her, the laugh she had that was only for him, the sweet names that were for his ears alone.

Would he do it for her?

Yes, he would do it for her, he would die for her.

He remembered.

The pressure around him relaxed, not so much controlling any more as guiding, teaching, drawing him towards the task that had to be done.

There were nukes to be disarmed; he could feel them, the dirty putridness of their radiations almost painful against his form.

He could sense a full twelve devices around him, but he knew that not all of them were a threat; the SGC's own fail-safes were as far as he knew disabled.

The voice… _Willow_ reminded him that he could not afford to assume they were safe, there were far too many question marks over how they had been disabled in the first place.

He nodded, reflexively, then wondered how he could nod when he no longer had any true form? It didn't matter, not now; he could worry about it later. Right now, he had a task to complete.

Then, he grinned, sending a thin experimental tendril of thought towards the witch. There was a weak, drained impression of a grin back, and then a heaviness settled over his mind…

Knowledge, suddenly he knew more, like why the physical law of conservation of energy applied to magic still, despite the widely different mechanics of physics and magic, he knew what a magical addiction felt like, he knew why intention meant little and everything at the same time for grey magics…

He knew everything Willow knew in fact; she had given him her knowledge, knowing that she no longer had strength enough for the task at hand.

He knew the instant the guiding hand she had laid over his form vanished.

And he knew he could do nothing to help, not yet.

There were magics over the devices, she had been right about that, and they were strong but they were not subtle, he cast them aside with ease. Then, with equally contemptuous ease, he cracked the casings of the devices open, lifting the fissionable material away from the detonators, not bothering to check which was an authorised device and which wasn't, Willow was right after all, he couldn't take the risk that the official devices had been compromised. He didn't even need to worry about the correct, safe approach, not know, not when he could _make_ this safe.

He would have to act quickly though, he could already feel the startled, curious eyes of others, equally non-corporeal begin to fall upon him.

Swiftly, he cast the material out, throwing it abruptly out of the atmosphere and into the depths of space, spinning swiftly into the all-consuming fires of the sun.

The… others, they were closer now, still… he had time.

He made his way towards the Willow, gazing upon her, seeing if he could return some of the epic strength that had lifted him into ascension, even if that hadn't been the plan. There was no need, others guarded here, others who were far more powerful then he but somehow… bound, tied to this place.

He was startled, recognising one, his mind reverently whispering the word deep within the recesses of his soul.

Gaia herself protected this one.

He could do nothing if she decided it was Willows time, best move on.

The others were here now, watching him, startled, bemused, angry, afraid yet all welcoming.

Still, he had one more thing to do, one last duty before he allowed the pull to take him away from the world of his birth.

He felt a wave of acceptance, some didn't like but they all understood. He could say goodbye to his Terry.


	35. Chapter 34

**Thirty-Four **

**African Exclusion Zone **

Screams, pain, burning flashes of heat…

Grinning manically, Rico didn't pause as he fired round after round into the now disorientated and shocked demons as thick black oily smoke writhed over the battlefield, accompanied by the screaming of the monsters in front of him.

The back of his mind noted a screeching whine, and with the desperate instincts of one who has a real desire to live, Rico dived back down into cover, eyes searching for the darting craft that would soon pass overhead, hoping that the 'close air support' wouldn't be as close as it had been for half of his scratch company, now dead, flash fried at the hands of their own air support.

He sighed, more then slightly relieved as he saw the warcraft release after passing overhead, the black dots dropping rapidly but straight right into the heart of the enemies battered formation.

He closed his eyes against the flash that was to come. There was a whoomph, and a flash of light just visible even through his eyelids, then screams, unholy, terrified and pained.

He opened his eyes, P-90 raised once more, laughing as before his eyes, the enemy learnt why napalm was so feared and hated.

"Damn, does that stuff make a nice barbeque," Carl commented at his side, pistol raised in one hand, the other, a useless, broken mass of bone.

"Yea," Rico shrugged, "but I think the meats far too scorched to eat. Might want to get some milder stuff for the next one"

Carl just shook his head, "I sincerely hope there won't be a next time"

**London, Sun Hill **

Stepping over the shattered, bloody body of a Jaffa, Sergeant Ackland held her 'borrowed' pistol, tightly, grimly and asked herself, not for the first time, what the hell she was doing here.

She was a Policewoman for heavens sake, one of Sun Hills finest, she wasn't a soldier. She was an officer of the law, meant to keep the peace.

Keep the peace; that was the rub though wasn't it?

It was her duty to keep the peace, and to keep the people of this city safe.

Gunshots sounded around her, and she raised her pistol carefully, gazing around for the Jaffa. She heard it then, the distinct phupting sound of the staff fire, right from around the next corner. Shivering, she realised she had gotten ahead of the SWAT boys she was assisting.

That certainly rated a 'shit'.

On the other hand…

She glanced around, grimacing as she spotted the shattered body of a young solider, but smiling tightly as she noted he still had grenades on his belt. Swiftly glancing around, checking her six, she dived across, grabbing the small deadly green spheres from the body, carefully not looking at his face, and then dived back into cover, slowly edging towards the corner, the deadly eggs clutched firmly in her hands.

The sound of gun fire intensified around her, a handful of rounds slamming into the old red brick of what looked to be an abandoned Victorian church far too close for comfort. Judging by the stinging across her face, she had been hit by shards of brickwork again.

It was annoying, but not so annoying as the bastards that had brought a firefight into the middle of _her_ city, thank you very much.

Smiling tightly, she pulled the pins from two grenades, then breathed deeply, forcing oxygen into her lungs. She was going to have to run and whilst she was still fit, it wasn't as easy anymore as it used to be. She was after all, the longest serving officer at the station and that brought a certain power, a certain dignity and definitely a certain amount of aging.

Taking one last deep breath, she reached around, swiftly tossing both eggs around the corner, and then, in one swift, experienced move, began a mad dash away, along the line of the building.

The sounds of the explosions distracted her, just for a moment, but it was enough, her feet slipping across a pool of blood, sending her spinning, uncontrolled into the ground. Groaning, bones aching, reminding her all to clearly of the onset of arthritis, she rose back to her feet, glancing around, she really was getting to old for this.

**Air Traffic Control, Gatwick **

_"Airlift Tango-Twenty-five, you are cleared to land on Charlie runway, wind westerly at 3-4 knots. Be advised, visibility is reduced due to smoke drifting across the runway. Welcome to London" _

_ "Airlift Sierra-Sixteen, gate twelve is yours, taxi route bravo" _

_ "Airlift Sierra-one, you are cleared to depart, hope to see you again very soon" _

_ "All aircraft, be advised, warbirds crossing the pattern" _

_ "Copy your emergency Tango-twelve, deploying emergency vehicles now" _

**African Exclusion Zone **

Rumbling sounds, heavy, pressing in heavy on his eardrums, that was new, but hey, if it was an armoured regiment deciding to join in the fun, he could certainly live with it.

The reinforcements and air support looked only to have bought then some extra time, but still, the air support had left, and he wasn't betting on a swift turn-around, not when they needed to return to _Thundersdawn_ to rearm.

The reinforcements, well they were certainly doing the part and the extra ammo they had bought was certainly needed but they had started to drop and with the break afforded by the disappearance of the _Lancers, _the enemy had managed to regroup and to retake the initiative and this time, they were _pissed_ off.

His people were dropping and fast, and he held little hope for them holding the line much longer.

Rico frowned suddenly, why was it so dark all of a sudden?

And why had the demons broke, retreating like the furies themselves were after them? It wasn't as if there was enough soldiery left to stop them taking the hellmouth after all.

And what in the hells name was that rumbling?

Rico glanced up, then his jaw dropped; sheer surprise and more then a little awe plastering itself across his face as the reason for the darkness, the retreat and the rumbling became clear to him.

There was a pulse, an impression of brilliant yellow and then screams.

Grinning, Rico grabbed a discarded pair of binoculars and gazed across at the retreating monsters as the _Ha'taks_ guns began to spit death, blazing an area for the massive ship to land, joined swiftly by the darting forms of large numbers of small, ungainly looking fighters.

**_Thundersdawn_ Station, (Secondary) Command Centre, Briefing Room **

Peters grimaced, wearily wishing she could grab a few more headache pills, a few more stims tabs, just something to keep her going until this crisis was over.

But she couldn't, the Doc had already told her quite firmly, No More.

It was annoying, she needed to be at the top of her game, but she certainly wasn't anymore. It was the End of Days for Earth and she was stuck here, away from the fight, desperately trying to scavenge up whatever assistance she could.

And she really needed to catch some shut-eye, but she couldn't, wouldn't, not until she knew the homeworld was safe.

Strange that, that it was always the homeworld to her, never home. But then, this station had been her home for many a year now.

Her desk pinged, and groaning, half in pain, half of sheer tiredness, she reached forward, tapping the sequence that would call the incoming message onto her screen.

She read it once, leaning swiftly forwards in her seat, and then read it again, slowly, more carefully.

Smiling tightly, the first smile she had allowed herself in the last few hours, she sat slowly back in her seat once more.

The African Hellmouth was theirs; the Free Jaffa had landed in force and were even now fortifying their location, just waiting, eagerly, vengefully for the coming counter-assault that the demons and their fanatic brethren were almost certain to send.

Casualty reports weren't in yet, and she knew nobody would be happy over those, not when two full regiments had deployed to the hellmouth and less then a hundred were estimate to be left alive.

There would certainly be an inquiry over that later, assuming of course there was a later.

Still, that was one hellmouth recaptured, the other was about to be swamped with reinforcements, both Free Jaffa and Russian Army and boy, would a lot of the 'Old Guard' blow their stacks at the thought of full Russian Regiments and _Guard_ regiments at that landing on British soil.

As for Colorado, Peters shook her head; nobody really knew what was going on inside the mountain right now, though they were making slow progress regaining control, the forward teams hadn't been heard from in a while and the soldiery trying to recapture the mountain were finding many of them already dead.

She knew at least three teams had made it too the gateroom but if the nukes had been disarmed, well that was anybodies guess.

They weren't out of the woods yet, but at least they were beginning to see sunlight appearing through gaps in the trees.


	36. Chapter 35

**Thirty-Five**

**London Exclusion Zone, Goa'uld Occupied Zone **

Iblis was not having a good day.

The plan to destroy the Tau'ri had been simple, make a covert insertion in Paris and corrupt the city, making a nice distraction as he moved his forces en-masse on the nearby hellmouth.

Simple, so simple even a Jaffa could manage it.

Like every other plan that involved the destruction of the Tau'ri, it had gone quite thoroughly wrong. Okay, so it worked surprisingly well at first, the corrupted intelligence operative had been quick to inform him on the planned attack by the savages in Africa and it was little work to ensure they were reinforced and even simpler to ensure the hated Tau'ri found out what was about to happen.

Of course, it helped greatly that the Tau'ri were having internal difficulties, the sheer joy of seeing his hated enemy fighting themselves! IT made it so much easier, their militaries stretched far too thin in their own cities, France and Africa to respond properly when he made his move on the London Hellmouth. Doubly so when their own News Media informed him of an assault on the Stargate itself!

He hadn't planned on the blockade fleet being intercepted by the Tau'ri forces on the edges of Interstellar Alliance space, he hadn't planned on the fleet losing fourteen of its cruisers, fourteen!

If those extra vessels had made it, then the blockade would have held, he had little doubt of that, but they hadn't and the enemy managed to successfully toss his warships aside.

No blockade meant the Tau'ri could ship reinforcements in from their bases in the area, and they had. Not only was the so called 'Free Press' already crowing bout the 'successful defeat of an alien invasion force' in Africa, but his forces were reporting contact not only with fresh army units inside London itself, with more and more Tau'ri reinforcements revealing themselves by the hour, but scouts deployed to the far north of his territory had gone silent after reporting Free Jaffa forces on the ground!

How had the Free Jaffa managed to respond so fast, getting at least regimental strength deployed on the ground?

For that matter, how had so many of his heavy weapons been defeated? They were meant to toss the primitive, useless Tau'ri fighters burning to the ground, instead it was they who burned whilst the startling nimble atmospheric craft ripped his ground forces to shreds.

It was maddening.

Still, he held the Hellmouth and his magus were already at work, all he had to do was hold for a few hours longer.

**London Exclusion Zone, The Admiralty   
**

"If our information from the Council of Watchers in correct, then we have mere hours to force Iblis off the hellmouth," General Hodges growled, annoyed, "whilst I have little doubt that with the fresh reinforcements from Russia and the Free Jaffa we can force Iblis off this world, I am not sure that we can do it that _fast_"

"The Fight progresses well," Bra'tac intoned, "however you are right, it will be days before we can assault the mouth itself"

"We do not have time to fight all the troops between us and the hellmouth," Commodore Thompson mused, his voice sounding loud and clear, her expression clearly contemplative as she gazed out of a large monitor set at the tail of the table, "therefore we must bypass them"

"Sound in theory," Hodges nodded; his expression weary, his face lined, dark rings around his eyes showing all to clearly how much sleep the aged General had not had the last few months, "but how do we bypass his forces with sufficient troops to assault Iblis's position?"

"The Free Jaffa have two Ha'taks, we have _Paladins_ by the hundred," Peters grinned, "I think its time for the largest airdrop since Operation Overlord"

**London Exclusion Zone, Goa'uld Occupation Zone   
**

Iblis was worried, half the war was knowing what your enemy was up and right now, he had no idea what they were planning. Trouble was, he had a pretty good idea they were planning something and if they knew the time constraints they were under, then that something would no doubt be bold. The Tau'ri were very good at bold moves when they wanted to be, witness the assault on Edonia Nebula, an assault that should never have succeded.

The Free Jaffa army to the north had vanished.

That was certainly worrying, he liked to know where his enemy was, doubly so when they break off in the middle of an assault they had already won and run off the battlefield. It meant they felt they had an urgent need to be elsewhere, and frankly, IBlis could only think of one place they would have an urgent need to be and he was in the middle of it.

They should be forcing there way through his forces, making a desperate assault on his position, yet they had broke off and he couldn't see them deciding it was a lost battle and fleeing the system, they did not have intelligence enough for that.

Worse, his scouts had finally found out where the reinforcements were coming in, the blasted airfields that surrounded this blighted city, and they reported that atmospheric craft were off-loading troops by the hundred.

Yet, those units were no longer appearing at the front lines, they were going elsewhere and his scouts couldn't figure out where, the convoys were moving too fast for them to follow and remain hidden at the same time.

Add that to those blasted atmospheric fighters, which had suddenly stopped trying to kill his troops and started concentrating on pinning them, stopping them going anywhere and… well, it didn't take a genius to figure out that you pinned your enemy only if you wanted them to stay where they were.

They had a plan; it involved lots of troops and him not being able to move any troops. No, he didn't like the situation at _all.   
_

**Free Jaffa Ha'tak   
**

"You know," Lucien commented, "I never thought I would find myself aboard an alien warship"

"And certainly not be about to fight alongside those aliens to retake our homes," Paxton agreed, then glanced around at the shattered remains of his troops, "not that a single squad is going to make much difference"

"They died with honour, fighting for their country, for freedom and for everything the Army stands for," Lucien nodded grimly, "for that, they will always be remembered, and considering how many have died, they will have their memorial too,"

Paxton cracked a grim grin, "probably a movie about their life stories too, made by Hollywood of course, so naturally they will miraculously have been American all along…"

Lucien snorted, sarcastically agreeing, "And yet the movie will still manage to get away with a 'Based on True Events' sticker'. Bloody bastards… U-571 was the worst example of _that_ kind of travesty I have to say"

"Been hundreds of others though," Paxton noted, "but I guess, so long as Hollywood is till around to make such a movie…"

"I guess," Lucien noted, "still, I know a few people who were talking about 'accidents' after that one came out"

Paxton snorted, "Understandable, still, enough morbid talk, we have an invasion to go too"

Lucien snorted, "And that doesn't count as morbid talk?"

Paxton grinned, weakly, "I see your point, still, I wish I could sleep"

Lucien grunted, "We'll have time to sleep once this is all over, until then…"

The SAS NCO reached down, checking his weapon and ammo one more time.


	37. Chapter 36

**Thirty-Six**

_"One Squad per Paladin, please make your way with your complete squad to the first empty transport. One squad per Paladin…" _

"This has been organised in far too much of a hurry Comrade"

"Da," Stárshiy leytenánt Dmitriy replied, "but what else could they do? We react. This is not good for an army; reactive means the enemy is dictating the battle, reactive means defensive"

"Da," Mládshiy leytenánt Georgiy "but what other choice do we have? On Earth, we have intelligence apparatus; we know who is likely to attack and some idea where and when. We have some readiness, these aliens, they attack without warning, and we know not when they come"

Dmitriy shrugged, "perhaps, but I hear these Goa'uld, they come in sneaky, under stealth"

"Even worse," Georgiy replied, cursing mildly as a solider behind him stepped on the back of his feet, caught off guard by the sudden stop of the long winding lines movement, "and if it was us doing it I would applaud such tactics, it is the way to win a war, seize every advantage you can. But it wasn't, and I curse being the wrong side of such matters"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," the two Russian soldiers turned as a voice spoke next to them, it was one of the walking wounded, the British soldiers invalidated out of the battle who had been fit enough to help with the mass movement of troops, "I hear you are about to go on the offensive, full airlift into the centre of Goa'uld occupied territory"

Dmitriy blinked, "we are three regiments! You cannot drop three regiments into enemy territory; no-one has the craft anymore"

"Four Regiments," the soldier shrugged, wincing as his arm moved within the confines of its sling, "a Free Jaffa regiment and one of your Guards regiments is securing beachhead by airdrop now, they drop in…" the soldier, whose uniform identified as being a Private of the Rifle Volunteers, Territorial Army stumbled, frowning, searching for the words, "space-warship? _Ha'tak_"

"That," Georgiy commented, "would have been something to see"

"Da," Dmitriy commented, "we go to reinforce then?"

"Indeed," the soldier continued, then "the line is moving now, you'd best move on"

"Thank you Comrade," Dmitriy waved as he walked forward, heading with his squad for the first open _Paladin._

* * *

If an incorporeal could have blinked, Iblis certainly would have.

'Well,' he thought cynically to himself, 'at least I know where the missing enemy are'

He gazed up again, fuming, as two _Ha'taks, _both bearing the mark of the treacherous so-called 'Free Jaffa' began to settle on the ground just one mile from the hellmouth itself.

His rage grow as the main weapons fired, splattering across the shield that had been erected over the hellmouth itself. Iblis knew the unit he had brought was designed for portability rather then power, the two warships would batter through it soon enough and he had not planned on losing that primary protection.

The bulk of his forces were elsewhere, thoroughly pinned, this ccould be a real problem. Could the shield hold for another hour? He doubted it.

Could the warriors he had available to him hold the Tau'ri off for the remaining time? He doubted that too.

"Send a recall," he growled, knowing full well that the order he was about to give would result in a slaughter of his troops, but so long as enough survived to join his defenders here, he didn't care one iota. They would die for their God; that was good enough for him, "I want every Jaffa summoned here, I do not care if they are pinned by Tau'ri forces"

Iblis smiled, grimly, "and wake the supersoldiers"

* * *

_ "Jubilation mixed with sorrow and despair today as officials confirm that both the African Hellmouth and Stargate Command in Colorado Springs are firmly back in Allied control. _

_ However, the price has been shockingly high; in Colorado alone over six-thousand people are believed to have died in the fighting, this is joined by two full regiments reduced to nothing at the African Hellmouth, and the reports are still flowing in. _

_ Already, this year is being called by many as the Year of Death as the grand total officially breaks the three-quarters of a million mark. The end total will certainly be far higher, indeed, we will most likely never know exactly how many people really died this year and as yet, it isn't over. _

_ London has yet to be reclaimed from the forces of the Goa'uld, and if they manage to awaken this 'hellmouth', some sort of ancient device buried on the outskirts of the city, then rumour has it, it will be game over. No-one has yet to say how the end will come or what exactly a Hellmouth is but rumours of a supernatural link have been laughed at by government officials" _

_

* * *

_

_ "This was once a vibrant, beautiful city, now, thanks to military necessity, it is a maze of desolate and unstable ruins, half the buildings having collapsed under the sheer force of the nuclear device detonated in the skies above me, the other half severally damaged and swiftly crumbling. _

_ Many question whether the city will ever be reborn, but it is unlikely, radiation levels are elevated in many areas, the streets are covered in the decaying bodies of the dead and rats and other vermin swarm through the streets. _

_ Already, plans are being drawn up to bulldoze large portions of the city, perhaps even its entirety. _

_ What is known for definite is that in the last six hours, no more refugees have been reported fleeing the city, nor have the Allied forces and aid agencies discovered any more survivors. _

_ This is a nation wounded, its heart torn out far more thoroughly even then the Nazi invasion of the Second World War managed. Who knows if this country will ever recover? _

_ Only time will truly tell. _

_ Reporting from an ABC suit next to the defiantly standing Arc De __Triomphe, this is NBC News…" _

_

* * *

_

_ "Earths defences inadequate? _

_ Yes, according to official reports leaked from the Royal Space Service today, this is the latest in a long series of incidents which are being cited as reasons for an internal investigation into the affairs of the Royal Space Service and Stargate Command following the nightmarish and still ongoing events of this year. _

_ When asked to comment on why more money had not been spent on homeworld defence, sources stated limited budget, the need for secrecy up till the events of disclosure and commitments elsewhere. _

_ This has already caused an outcry amongst many who state that absolutely nothing should have compromised the need to keep the homeworld safe, this argument has many followers, most no doubt reacting to recent events and yet how safe would Earth be without those 'outside commitments' and the advanced technologies several of them have provided to us? _

_ This is a question that can never be truly answered, what can be said for definite is that humanity will no doubt never stop analyzing this years events and second-guessing every decision that has been made" _


	38. Chapter 37

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**As always, thank you to everyone who has reviewed. **

**Thirty-Seven**

"Sirs," the Major walked up, his face lined, showing clearly the stress of the last few days, but there was a renewed gleam in his eyes, one that spoke of hope being slowly reborn within the heart of the cynical, battle weary soldier, "latest reports from the main front indicate Goa'uld forces withdrawing in all areas, our forces are currently regrouping and not as yet advancing"

"Excellent," General Hendricks said, his face showing a slight smile as he watched the status board in front of him slowly update, flickering spastically as inbound reports were slowly fed into its circuits.

"Operation Beachhead forces also confirm a secure perimeter but they are not as yet advancing"

The General glanced across, then nodded, watching as a wave of small indicators slowly advanced towards the force they had inserted in Goa'uld occupied territory, each blip queuing for its own chance to land and disgorge its few squads of troops.

"We may need to hurry that up, time is not on our side," he paused, glancing across at Major Penhall, "do we have any other craft available to assist in the airlift?"

Penhall shook his head, "too many airbases around here got hit during the initial assault, we lost nearly a hundred aircraft including those we would normally use for airlift operations. More are being flown in, but we have to remember that there are still Goa'uld anti-air batteries in operation. The _Paladins _can just drop in from orbit above their targets, avoiding the batteries but everything else has to fly over them"

"Hmm," Hendricks frowned, "any news on how many of the batteries are left?"

"No sir," Penhall shook his head, "we no longer have any contact with the few attack helicopters we were able to scrape up, last message was a tally-ho, then nothing. The bombers are searching but reporting only intermittent contact, the RAF boys think they are holding off now until they get a definite lock and well," Penhall shrugged, "our infiltration groups are too busy avoiding contact with the retreating Jaffa to make contact that often, and indications are that not all of them have been successful. At least three squads have reported contact, then nothing more"

"Damnation," Hendricks cursed, "how could we have beeen caught so off guard? How could such a travesty as an invasion of our homeland be allowed?"

"A lot of people are going to be asking those questions sir, but now is not the time, you have to complete the operation"

"Aye," Hendricks nodded, "any thoughts Master Gel'tec?"

The Free Jaffa General grimly looked up, turning his face from the displays, "I believe the Major is right, we need to concentrate on the now. Let others deal with the why later"

Hendricks resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "I was referring to the course of the battle"

"It goes well…" the General sighed, "but not well enough. Every moment Iblis holds that gateway is another chance he has to breech the dimensional walls and bring down the hosts onto this world"

"Da," Generál-leytenánt Vladin' added, "we need to be advancing but with the Gao'uld retreating, compressing aound our beachhead, we also need to be sure we do not overextend ourselves any more. You British have been taught the folly of that by recent events"

"These things had to be done," Hendricks frowned, "even you cannot argue with that"

"Perhaps," Vladin' nodded, "but still, if you had kept more units at home…"

"Then we would have a Goa'uld controlled army rampaging across the continent, ever expanding its numbers through their mind-control drugs. Or we would have an open hellmouth in Africa. Either way, there would be chaos"

"Indeed," Gel'tec replied, "this bickering does not help us however; we need to speed up the reinforcement. With the extra troops in place then we can advance"

"No," Hendricks replied, glancing swiftly across the tactical displays, "we need to advance, take some more ground so the _Paladins _have more space to land in"

Vladin's eyebrows rose, "that would work also, is there sufficient forces on the ground now for a small advance?"

Hendricks nodded, looking back up from the displays, "yes"

"Then I agree, order the advance" Gel'tec nodded sharply, once.

"Da, give the order"

"Penhall," Hendricks said, turning swiftly back to the display, signal Beachhead, I want… hills Baker-26, Baker -25 taken and the valley between prepared for airlift operations"

"Yes sir," Penhall replied, his hand already reaching for the message pad in his pocket.

"And while you're at it," Hendricks frowned, "ask if they have any indication where the Goa'uld controlled French and UN units have gotten too"

"For that matter," Gel'tec frowned, "where are the Supersoldiers?"

"Indeed," Vladin' noted, "I hope that Iblis has brought none, the reports suggest that they are quite… formidable, but I doubt it"

"I would guess that they are his reserve," Penhall sighed, "I haven't had time to read them thoroughly, but the reports from the SGC indicate that they had had some success in disrupting their production recently, Iblis may not have too many"

"No," Gel'tec sighed, "but even a few may be enough"

* * *

"General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands man Battle stations, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. Commodore Peters, report to Command. General Quarters…" 

Cursing, Peters swung herself of her bed and swiftly slid on the holster for her pistol, checking once o make sure the small weapon was loaded before she raced to the bridge. She didn't get dressed, she didn't need too, she had learnt ages ago that during a crisis situation, if you managed to snatch some sleep you didn't get undressed, it just wasted time when you were called into action again. Her uniform showed clearly its overuse, and frankly, Peters doubted it would be salvageable once this mess was over. It didn't matter; it was inconsequential compared to the events in motion. Once Earth was safe again, then she could worry about minor details such as tidy uniforms.

She caught herself racing towards the Primary Bridge, and with a loud, paint-blistering curse, she changed course, swiftly flicking through the corridors and access ways to the secondary command centre.

She hated that her home was wounded so, but given present circumstances; it wasn't the time to whinge. Of course, it wouldn't stop her crowing once more at those idiots who thought the station would never need a back-up command facility. Armchair warriors like those had no place working for appropriations, Peters grimly thought, but unfortunately, that was always where they seemed to end up.

Carefully placing her hand on the cracked plate of the fingerprint scanner, she smiled grimly at the faces of the two visible guards stationed to protect the secondary command centre, hoping the scanner would work properly and let her in. Being man-handled by the guards was a humiliating experience she didn't want to repeat. She couldn't tell them off though; they had been following their orders very carefully.

With an assenting bleep, the doors slid open and the Guards stepped apart, allowing her to access what was, for the moment, the hub of the stations operations. A hub that she had decided was too small and had been left to slip too far behind the quality of the main centre. It was an issue she would have to sort out… when this mess was over.

Strange, she thought as she tepped through the door, not so long ago she was thinking in terms of 'if', now it's 'when', always 'when'.

No matter, she had more important issues right now.

"Report!"

"Cylon fighter patrols reported in the asteroid belt m'am"

Fuck.

They had no fighters available; they were all assisting on the surface.

Fuck, damn and bloody blast.

"Order _Stingray… _Damn!" Peters cursed, swiftly, fluently, "cancel. Order _Invincible _into guard position over _Minehead, _ditto for _General Hammond _and _Coalmine. _Then order what MTBs we have left into the belt itself to smoke those bastards out… send in those two _Al-kesh _as well"

Peters frowned, the jump-range of those fighters was surprisingly large considering their size, but still, it wasn't that large. There had to be another base-ship in the area.

"Do we have anyone available for local group recon?"

"Not without compromising system defence m'am"

"Damn," she cursed, "well, send me the lists. I'm going to have to free somebody up"

"Yes M'am"

Peters cursed, it never rained but it poured didn't it?

A quarter of the fleet either in or queuing for the body and fender shop, half deployed across allied territory and just a meagre few to protect home. They needed more warships… as always.

Damn, would she be glad when they got those babies out of her slips. Those extra few warships would make all the difference; still, they weren't ready yet… soon though, soon.


	39. Chapter 38

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Thirty-Eight**

"Contact report sir," Penhall stated, glancing up from the swiftly scrolling screen of the Command/Control computer, "light resistance on hills Baker-25 and 26, enemy withdrawing"

"Damnation," General Hendricks frowned, "they're retreating too easy. They must mean to compress their battleline"

"Da Comrade," Vladin', "this may be a problem, if they compress their battleline too much then they will be near immune to a frontal assault from the forces we have available to us"

"There is also the matter of our rear, with hostile units known to be moving towards our flanks and rear…" Gel'tec shrugged expressively, "this may be time for some of that tactical brilliance the Tau'ri have earned themselves a name for"

"A compressed battleline is highly vulnerable to air attack," Hendricks mused.

Major Penhall glanced once at the tactical display, then shook his head, "only Free Jaffa _Udajeet _available at this moment and they are not effective at assaulting ground targets"

"Perhaps by your standards," Grl'tec noted, "but the craft have been used in that role longer then I have lived. The pilots are used to it"

"Questions of suitability can wait," Hendricks shook his head, "if they can, then they must. We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing our tools"

"Very well sir," Penhall nodded sharply, then turned back to his console, his mind already swiftly formulating the appropriate orders

"It is times like this I regret that the use of napalm is technically illegal nowadays," Vladin' mused.

Hendricks snorted, "legal or not, everyone still stockpiles some… but Death Gliders can not deliver the ordinance nor be refitted to in time and the Air Force is shattered, no longer able to maintain 24/7 operations"

"Da," Vladin' frowned, "it was an oversight not to have included fighters in the airlift"

"Excuse me," Gel'tec interrupted, "but I see a blip marked high on your display but I know not what it stands for"

Vladin' glanced across swiftly, and then sighed, "American B-2 in case we fail. If the mouth opens, then the English countryside will once more know the heat of a nuclear furnace"

"I see," Gel'tec shook himself, disturbed, "understandable and regrettable both"

"Hills 25 and 26 secured," Penhall announced, the large display flickering at the update, "minor casualties reported, no fatalities. ATC now expanding the landing zone"

"That is good news," Vladin' noted, "but still, the final assault, how do we do this?"

"I don't know," Hendricks frowned, gazing swiftly across the tactical displays, "we have our LZ, troops are landing fast now but we must consider both our flanks and rear, the normal jaffa that will oppose us as well as mind-controlled French and UN units…"

"Do not forget the supersoldiers," Gel'tec pointed out.

"How can I?" Hendricks shivered, "they are the most vexing aspect of this, we have very little that will pierce that armour and none of it is available to us here and now"

"They will massacre our forces if Iblis has nay on planet" Vladin' shook his head, "I have little doubt we could succeed against the other forces Iblis has available to him,"

Gel'tec and Hendricks nodded as this, "but those supersoldiers, they could easily be the death of us"

"We may…" Hendricks paused, then sighed, annoyed, "have to look beyond the technological for an answer"

"I hate to say it," Vladin' agreed, "But I must agree… and disagree! We risk much if we do and much more if we don't. The explanation to our troops, that we are dealing with a ancient armies trapped by the ancients that Iblis wishes to release, it holds for now but if we start using magic we will encourage them to ask questions… and the fewer who know that magic is real the better!"

"That is indeed an effective ploy with which to hide the truth of our mission here, but Vladin' is right, if you use magic now you save your Earth… for now, and expose a greater threat. It may be best not to touch such heresies"

"The explanation has a certain irony," Hendricks shook his head, "and as I understand it, a certain truth. But you are right… and yet, we need, no, we _must _have some sort of edge. We could win this battle only to have the tables turned on us by the appearance of those enhanced soldiers"

"It seems incredible to me that something that can be carried by a man can protect against such incredible forces as those represented by a rocket," Valdin' frowned, gesturing agitatedly with his hands, "but if Stargate Commands reports are to be believed and I have seen no reason not to…"

"There are weapons which can neutralise the protection," Hendricks shook his head, "but of course, they are not available to us here and now and whilst the _Ha'taks _weapons would almost certainly overwhelm their protection…"

Vladin' snorted, muttering quietly under his breath, "that might just manage to disprove rule 37…"

"Rule 37?" Gel'tec asked, frowning.

"There is no overkill, only 'Open Fire' and 'I need to reload'" Vladin' smiled tightly.

"…we would need to get the supersoldiers out into the open" Hendricks mused thoughtfully, one hand stroking at the harsh hairs, a remnant of days without proper shaving.

Gel'tec glanced at Hendricks startled, "You are serious? Use warship weaponry to kill mere supersoldiers?"

Hendricks shook his head, grimacing his annoyance, "we do not have anything that might qualify as just enough kill… our only hope is sheer overkill"

Vladin' nodded, turning to Major Penhall, "signal the artillery controllers, have them co-ordinate with the _Ha'taks, _we may be using them for heavy support"

Hendricks smiled, an amused glint coming into his eye for just a moment, "rule 34…"

"If your leaving scorch marks, you need a bigger gun," Vladin' translated, glancing amused at Hendricks who despite planning the downfall of Iblis had apparently been managing to keep track of the conversation going on in his periphery as well, "I rather doubt that the _Ha'tak _weapons will be leaving anything as crass as scorch marks"

"Perhaps," Gel'tec shook his head, "you risk your own soldiery… and you must also bring the supersoliders to a place the _Ha'taks _can actually bring their weapons to bear"

"If supersoldiers appear," Hendricks commented bluntly, "then we are going to lose people containing them regardless. Best they die for a purpose"

"Could you not manoeuvre your warships in order to acquire a better field of fire? Perhaps even invert them?"

"Invert no, not in the atmosphere…" Gel'tec hesitated, and then nodded, "but they can hover over the engagement zone for certain and perhaps tilt in order to bring the main weapons to bear better for a while, but the engines will be strained. We would have a short window of availability for each ship before they would be forced to land once more"

"Then we stagger them," Vladin' stated.

"Indeed," Gel'tec nodded, and then walked towards Penhall, preparing the orders that were to be passed along.

"Still," Vladin' frowned, "we do not really have the forces to attack across a large front and yet if we concentrate we increase the number of people likely to be killed by our own weapons should the supersoldiers appear"

Hendricks shook his head, "I want a sharp assault, near pinpoint to force a break…"

He stepped forward, gesturing across the display, "like a needle we make a break in the skin then push the plunger. Insert what elites and veterans we have available into the complex itself, assisted by selected standard forces. Use regulars to widen the breech, assaulting along the flank we have created and perhaps moving through the outskirts of the base to attack fortified positions from the rear. We make a hole… then we pour through it"

Vladin' nodded, "we should move any armour to the point of the breech"

"Indeed," General Hendricks laughed, darkly, "that's maybe twenty tanks total… but only eight of those are Challengers. The others are best suited to recon and rapid reinforcement duties towards our rear"

"Latest estimate from the _Ha'taks, _they say Iblis's shield will almost certainly be down within five minutes" Gel'tec noted, hurrying back into the conversation.

"Then we move everything to… Hill-45," Hendricks stated, his tone one of pure determination, " _everything. _The next wave of reinforcements will take the task of watching our rear"

"You risk much…" Vladin' noted, but wearily continued, "but da"

"War is risk," Hendricks frowned, "and now is the time to gamble the whole hand… and hope Iblis isn't holding too many aces"

"Now," Gel'tec said, "which units are assigned which task? We do not have much time to decide"

"No," Hendricks sighed, "we most certainly do not"

"Okay," Vladin' leaned forward across the display, "First we deal with Iblis's coordination. Penhall, signal _Thundersdawn, _its time to turn out the lights"


	40. Chapter 39

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Thirty-nine**

The Tau'ri had demon in their blood, they had to have.

His bases was surrounded, his shield was about to fail and the last reports before his communications vanished into a haze of noise and jamming was that the Tau'ri had abandoned what rearguard positions they had.

They were throwing everything into this assault, literally.

Its was a fools move, even the most simple System Lord knew not to leave their rear uncovered… yet the Tau'ri had, deliberately.

Iblis hated to admit it, but he was impressed, it was bold, it was risky and it could win them the battle. He still had the Tau'ri forces outnumbered and better yet, it appeared they were having some communications and language difficulties but still, he knew as well as any other Goa'uld that when Jaffa met solider, you assumed a five to one kill ratio minimum.

His forces outnumbered the Tau'ri four to one. It wouldn't be enough. His supersoldiers were the Tau'ri weakness of course but he had few and besides, he certainly wouldn't put it past the Tau'ri to have brought weapons capable of killing them to the battlefield. They certainly seemed to have such weapons but they at least seemed to be rare.

Of course, they could also not have such available… in which case, Iblis had little doubt they would have a plan for his supersoldiers. If not, then they would adapt on the fly and innovate and damn them but they could maliciously devious when they were of a mind to be.

He was screwed.

Oh, yes he had figured that much out ages ago.

Too many warships for him to have any chance of escaping in the one space-capable craft he had left at his disposal and he couldn't… no, he wouldn't cast aside the cloak that allowed him to effect the physical world, not on a hellmouth.

He knew better then that, there were… things that waited on the edge of such disturbances just waiting for an opportunity to move into the real world and a massive energy being such as he just _being _on the hellmouth uncontained would weaken the barrier… he wanted that of course, but the important words were controlled and predictable.

Oh yes, and no risk of something deciding to make a meal or worse, a _host _of him. There were demons that could do that, that much he knew. They were high level of course, they would have to be but it was doable and that was scary.

It was the divine right of the Goa'uld to take whatever they wanted as a host, the thought of beings that could take a Goa'uld as host was abominable.

If everything had gone to plan, there wouldn't be the risk.

He should have known better then to expect everything to go to plan where the Tau'ri were concerned. He had no choice, the die was cast now.

He would flee but only when the mouth was open. The supersoldiers would act as his bodyguard whilst he got away from the hellmouth, as soon as he was clear he would flee this place in his incorporeal form.

And if it looked like the Tau'ri were going to win, well, he would have to flee anyway, before they found someone who could contain _him. _They could, and he had little doubt if they had the opportunity, they would.

People should know their place, the Tau'ri didn't and worse, they resisted anyone who tried to put them where they belonged. That was dangerous enough, but they had the will to make their decisions stick and that was a problem.

A problem this mission was supposed to have sorted out.

Damn the Tau'ri.

* * *

_"Confirm shields down, all units advance" _

Six simple words, too few and too simple for the massacre they were setting off Stárshiy leytenánt Dm i triy thought to himself, and a massacre it would be. There was littloe time for strategy and tactics, today it would all be push, advance, win.

No other choice really.

Hundreds, if not thousands would die, but he knew that if all of them died yet succeeded it would still be considered a victory.

Sometimes life was harsh like that.

"No-one watching the rear, everyone just running into the fight, running under the guns of their forts," Mládshiy leytenánt Georgiy shook his head, "this is madness Dm i triy"

"Perhaps," he replied, "but it is a madness we must all share. Today is not the day to question why, today is the day to do or die"

"Madness aye," Georgiy shook his head, "on our right, two tanks and a reinforced platoon of the SAS. On our left, a scratch squad. Reservists… reservists at the point of an assault! They have police in their company, police!"

"Needs must," Dm i triy replied, "besides they are led by an SAS officer and rumour has it, he is responsible for the destruction of at least ten of the enemy anti-air positions"

"Perhaps," Georgiy shook his head, then dived forwards, rifle raised but not firing as he moved, apparently unnoticed into the next sliver of cover, "but all this… our left flank has more units then the centre and our right… too much haste, too much rush"

"There wasn't a lot of choice," Dm i triy grimly commented, diving into cover besides his friend, cursing as the rock shivered with the weight of staff weapon fire suddenly being aimed at it.

To their left, screams suddenly sounded and instinctively they glanced across as several metres away a figure dived out of cover, his clothes alight as the bush he had been hiding behind burned. In the fatal instant he was out of cover, he was gone, his body twisting then breaking as staff bolts rendered the ground around him into blackened mud.

They were silent for a moment; the exchanging a grim glance, each poked his head and weapon just out of cover, taking careful aim towards the enemy position.

The cracks of the rifles were lost amongst the loud, angry and fearful sounds of the battle. Neither looked long enough to see if there targets fell, both ducking back into cover as soon as they had fired, they knew if they had been spotted, some retribution would be coming their way.

Best wait a mere second for another target to grab the enemy's attention.

A quick, simultaneous glance out of cover, then as one, they dived forward, sprinting a mere three minutes forward into the next small sliver of cover, a dip in the ground. Lying on the wet morass, they rested their weapons of the rise of the gully, their eyes the only part of their body they hoped was appearing above the rise as they slowly carefully fired. There was no point diving back into full cover after each shot, there wasn't enough cover to hide behind so they took there time, carefully lining each shot up, ensuring a kill before they moved straight to the next.

Five Jaffa fell before the next body joined them in the dip. Within seconds, the dip was filled and staff weapon fire was claiming his share of the soldiers grimly pinned there.

This wouldn't do.

Dm i triy tapped his friends shoulder once, then as soon as Georgiy looked at hism, he reached down, pulling a small green egg of his belt.

"Cover fire!" Georgiy shouted, a grenade almost seeming to fall into his hand.

Around them, the sound of rifle and automatic weapons fire intensified, those who didn't know Russian quickly catching on as their comrades around them increased their rate of fire.

Nodding at each just once, Dm i triy and Georgiy stood swiftly up, using the momentum of their sudden rise to throw the grenades further towards the Jaffa positions. Neither waited to see if there aim was true, both diving swiftly back into cover with a curse as their actions drew far too much attention for their liking onto their position.

Two cracks sounded, and the fire from the Jaffa slackened.

Grimly, they raised their heads above the rise and opened fire as around them, their comrades surged to their feet, charging across the deadly no-mans land towards the Jaffa position.

* * *

_"Charge!" _

A demon had to be shouting that for it to be so _loud _Lucien thought to himself, and then realized with a start it was him who was making that call.

Not important, he told himself, not now, as, apparently on autopilot, his feet took his forwards, his eyes tracking across the battlefield, his hand seeming to clench his looted SAW spastically, sending bullets flying with deadly accuracy into the ranks of the enemy.

This was it, the final position before the complex itself. That was unfortunately fortified but those positions at least were not supporting their comrades. Too much smoke rising from the ground, smouldering and on fire from the shattering energies released by the collapse of the Goa'uld shield, it was blocking their view.

That, he noted to himself sardonically, was a good thing. An enemy position that was supported by covering fire was not a good place to assault. One that was cut off from support on the other hand…

Of course, there was always the counter to that, the one about cornered rats but the Jaffa didn't seem to go much for that philosophy, thankfully.

Too much thinking, not enough fight he tried to tell himself, but it wasn't true, he had been doing this too many years; it was far too ingrained for his liking. Watch, guard, move, fire…

Always move, always guard, actually firing came a close second to staying alive.

With a start, he realized he was at the Jaffa position and that I was empty save for the shattered bodies of the warriors who had made their stand here.

Grimly, he dived into its blood-daubed cover, waiting for more soldiers to join him. Soon, they would have to cross that final line into the base perimeter itself.

But not yet, not on his own.


	41. Chapter 40

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Fourty**

Endgame, The final battle, apocalypse…

Such simple words, but such deep meaning, such deep purpose, such deep loss.

Yet, they seemed to bear no relation to her here and now, yes, soldiers, warriors were dying in their hundreds trying to keep the Earth safe and yes, there was still no indication as to who would actually win this final assault but still… that was Earth, not here on _Thundersdawn _station. That distance, it lent a curious dislocation to the bloody events happening on the world so close by, intellectually she knew what was happening, the stakes, the odds. Emotionally, she was numb.

The fate of the Earth always seemed to rest on a single thread, a single battle, one pawn move in the chess game of life.

Strange.

Still, for all that was being risked, for all that was happening below the human race would survive, indeed, even the Tau'ri for a while at least. They would be weakened by the loss of their home, by the loss of their primary source of resources and Commodore Peters knew better then to think their many enemies would give them the time they would need to regroup.

No, if Earth fell, so most likely would the rest of the sol and Alpha Centauri systems in short order, then it would be left to whatever scattered fragments managed to flee to such places as alliance or Vulcan space. Edonia she didn't wish to think about, that outpost had to hold yet she knew it wouldn't, it couldn't even hold know against a determined assault, deprived of its primary source of spares and supplies it would fall into hostile hands in short order.

The allies, they could attempt to help of course, but it was far from alliance space, too far to maintain a realistic supply chain long term, not without more local support and the Vulcan's and Andorians, well, they might have some interesting technolo0gies but those only marked themselves out as greater targets, greater threats.

The Free Jaffa, well they had numbers on their side of course, but they needed upgrades, new technologies if they were to remain in the fight. Perhaps they could get those off the Alliance or off of the Vulcans or Andorians, perhaps not. Either way, there would be delays and if either Maktenos, Anubis or even the Cylons decided to launch a determined campaign against them in that time, they would lose, not without a fight, but they would almost certainly lose.

Strange, could the fate of the galaxy truly rest on the outcome of a battle on just _one _world?

Her train of thought made it seem so, but perhaps that was just arrogance and ego speaking, after all, hadn't Earth held out despite being outnumbered and outgunned by so many magnitudes of order it wasn't even funny, and borderline inconceivable?

It would be arrogance, pure and simple, to assume others couldn't do the same if they had the will too and perhaps they would be able to take up the banner of freedom the Tau'ri might just be fated to lose control off.

Perhaps…

Maybe this whole train of thought is academic; Peters noted to herself, their forces on the ground could still triumph over the Goa'uld.

Perhaps.

Either way, it would certainly be a close run thing and right now, there was no way to see who was likely to be the winner.

It would help if she didn't have to deal with Cylon recon probes and a crippled Lagrange sensor array though, that was distracting her far too much from the vital task of scrounging up every body she could for that final assault in Iblis.

Not that a few hundred bodies would make much difference. Then again, sometimes all it took was one…

* * *

Blood, there was blood everywhere, a dispassionate corner of Luciens mind told him dispassionately, the rest of him quite firmly adding that it wasn't just blood… and that the stench of cordite and munitions was almost overwhelming. 

Almost.

Lucien hated city-fighting. Sure, what with the old troubles in Ireland the British Army was still regarded as one of the best and most experienced at the particular vein of warfare, despite end of that particular conflict.

Not that this was strictly speaking city-fighting, this wasn't a city for certain, but it had all the elements, an enemy that used every nook and cranny, determined to stay alive, lots of corners, lots of buildings, and worse, fire racing through the area. That was always the risk in a city-fight, you could set of a fire that would rage out of control, the firefighters naturally staying well out of raging gunbattle. It made things interesting for both sides, doubly so when you consider the hasty and ill-prepared construction they were currently trying to seize.

Wood, plastic, metals, including a few materials the aging SAS Colour-sergeant couldn't identify, all of those and more had been scrounged to make this fort, and a lot of them burned, sending black oily smoke rising into the air and flowing along the corridors, choking the breath out of those that tried to fight in the murky, dangerous and artificial smoke.

They had to advance through it, that was a given, but moving through it gave many advantages to the enemy, it was easier to see someone moving through smoke after all then it was to see somebody in cover on the other side of it.

Choices, they didn't have any, again.

This whole battle, correction, this whole campaign was beleaguered by that simple minor factor.

They had been trying to gain the initiative, to be able to make their own choices for the campaign, not have the enemy make them for them all the time but opportunities had been few and far between.

Iblis dominated and controlled the campaign, which was a bad position to be in, the time constraints left them no choice but to accept it and that _certainly _wasn't a good thing. Still, as always, you do the best you can with what equipment, men and time you have available, and hope the enemy dies a lot faster then you do. Normally, he would say, 'hope to be the one that gets to go home', but that seemed inappropriate for this battle, too many had died, and given the rush with which the operation had been carried out, it was probable that the fates of many would never truly be known. Guessed perhaps, but not known.

The enemy had the biggest advantages of course, home field, the idea of knowing the terrain, or in this case, the base you were fighting in was an advantage never to be underestimated, but to have weapons that wouldn't run out of ammo…

Lucien gripped his looted pistols grimly in each hand, they were… interesting, that was for certain. No apparent need for ammo, but one shot would stun, a second kill, a third…

Useful if you were in the business of not leaving any evidence behind he admitted, and quite versitle tools, but still, they didn't feel right in his hands.

Not that he had any choice in the matter, his last weapon, an Uzi he had taken of a scratch company volunteer who wouldn't be needing it any more had run out of ammo ages ago. In a situation like that, you made do with what was to hand and be grateful for it, there were certainly far worse alternatives after all.

An advance… Lucien nodded acknowledgement as the battered, fearful looking Lieutenant in front of him signalled the charge, then passed the word along to the remnants of his own squad.

If this went right, that would be another corridor in their hands, if not, then in all likelihood he wouldn't have to worry about ammunitions shortages ever again.


	42. Chapter 41

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Reminder: This fic contains scenes of violance and warfare  
**

**Fourty-one**

"Jaffa, Kree! Sha'lokma'kor shol'va!"

Well, I didn't have a clue what those Jaffa just said, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that 'attack' was involved in there somewhere, a point confirmed as mere seconds latter the corridor began shaking, a heavy pounding being transmitted through the ground.

Of course, I had a little surprise ready for them.

A little surprise I had very gingerly edged around the corner, and pointed towards the enemy position. Now, I was looking at the charging Jaffa through a mirror of the short more normally used by dentists to see inside of a mouth.

The Jaffa, despite their bulky, annoying armour were moving fast enough, they would be in position fast enough. Pity for them as we had been hoping for a counter attack along the narrow confines of the corridor.

I nodded; there was a clicking as besides me a Russian Stárshiy leytenánt triggered the detonator. Then, a crump, felt more then heard, as the hastily improvised claymore detonated.

We waited just a beat, long enough to hopefully ensure the last of the nails and other debris the device has been packed with had come to a stop, and then weapons charged, we dived out of cover, racing over the shattered bodies of several Jaffa towards their own positions.

Return fire was minimal at first, the Jaffa obviously shocked and surprised by thr devastating effect of the hastily- made bomb we had used against them, but their training, or should I say, indoctrination, shoved swiftly through and they rallied.

Not before we had killed another twelve Jaffa though, and pushed their defensive line back out of the corridor.

A quick check of my GPS set showed me that we were now only 100 metres from the hellmouth itself.

* * *

_"Fire Mission! 45 Jaffa inside, blue sector, quadrant 8, north corner, apparently waiting for orders to reinforce. Fire for effect" _

_"Medi-vac required, inside blue sector east corner, quadrant six, for six" _

_"Under heavy attack, inside green, quadrant 4, north corner. Reduced below combat effectiveness, request assistance" _

_"Red Sector breeched, I say again, red sector breeched. All available units proceed along following path to reinforce breech, most immediate! Path is as follows…" _

"What!" General Hendricks snapped, his head around, startled, "what was that last transmission?"

Penhall smiled, looking up from his communications post, "we have a report of a breech into red sector, commander on the scene is calling for all available units to reinforce and widen the breech"

"Confirm the breech," Vladin nodded, "as best you can, if genuine…"

"Then we are merely closer to the objective," Hendricks snorted, "we will not have won until the mouth is ours and the last of the enemy is being rounded up"

"Da Comrade," Vladin replied, "still, hope for the best and plan for the worst"

"Yes," Gel'tec nodded, "that is a proverb I must say I see sense in. Still, we can reinforce?"

"Judging by the path this… Lucien, SAS is reporting, the closest units in a position to reinforce are outside the base, three fresh Spetsnaz units. Whoever this Lucien is, he's punched a route straight through, but he has left his flanks vulnerable"

"Label the path Red Route One, send those Spetsnaz units to reinforce Luciens position," Hendricks ordered, "and find more bodies to secure the route"

"Aye sir," Penhall nodded, turning back to his console.

_"Daedalus, I say again, Daedalus, request assistance at…" _

"Copy your Deadalus," Penhall replied swiftly into the radio, "please state your location"

Hendricks grimaced as there was no response, that position had most likely been overrun already. They had at least lasted long enough to give them some warning though.

"Warning signal to all positions Major, Supersoldiers reported on the move, no confirmation of location available"

"Aye Sir, Penhall replied, "should I contact each team for confirmation of status?"

"No," Hendricks sighed, "we can't afford to tie up the comm. nets for the hour or so that would take"

"That will give us some difficulty tracking the movements of the supersoldiers" Gel'tec noted.

Vladin snorted, "They have three options. Defend the hellmouth, in which case we know where they are and can act accordingly. Counterassault, in which case we hope somebody gets a full distress signal out or break-out, most likely to get their god to safety, in which case they will effectively take themselves out of the fight in short order. Either way, we will know soon enough"

"Perhaps…" Hendricks, frowned, "is Lucien's group still reporting?"

"Affirm, as are all units moving along the route"

"Then our breech is still secure, that is what we must concentrate on, for the moment"

"Da," Vladin nodded his agreement.

* * *

**Thundersdawn Station, High Mars Orbit **

_"General Quarters! General Quarters! Commodore Peters to the bridge, all hands Battlestations" _

That, Commodore Peters thought as once more, she found herself hastily chucking her uniform on, is an obscene way to be woken up. They really needed to invent a uniform that didn't crease, at least then she would be able to sleep in it, saving about 76 seconds of reaction time.

And wasn't it just sad that she had timed how long it took her to get her uniform on?

Peters stilled, a slight movement, barely noticeable in the deckplates shocking her. The stations main weapons were firing.

Her uniform in her hands, Peters raced towards the bridge.

* * *

_"All batteries fire as you bear" _Ensign Morris screamed, her voice horse, her palms sweaty and clenched hard against the arms of the command seat. 

She was 3 rd Tactical officer for heavens sakes; she didn't have the experience to deal with this! She wouldn't even have had command of the night shift if the normal OOD hadn't died during the last attack.

"We have confirmation of Ids Commander,"

Commander, that was her, right, Officer in charge was always Captain on a Naval ship, Commander on a Naval base, saved confusion, is the person in charge ranked Captain? Are they the OOD, not the quickest things to say in a combat situation, or what?

Damn it, she was drifting.

"Hostile vessels are Cylon secessionists"

"I don't care, they fired upon the station on my watch, therefore they die," Who was that speaking in such a quiet, controlled voice?

Oh, it was her, right.

"Set fire priorities: incoming ordnance, boarding craft, capitals launching or ready to launch fighters, fighters, then others"

"Aye Commander," Cadet Mohammed responded, his hands racing across his controls, "locked into guidance computers. _Yorktown _has been bracketed, she's lost orbital stability"

"Our shield integrity?" Morris snapped.

"87 but stable"

"Then we can afford to take a few hits," she smiled, viciously, "concentrated fire procedures, all capital batteries on the closest basestar, then the next"

"Aye Commander," Mohammed replied, his voice betraying not just his satisfaction with the order, but his fear, his anxiousness. He too did not really have the experience to be on the bridge during a major engagement, but like Morris, he was doing his job anyway.

"Commander,"

"Yes Petty?" Morris asked her hands white with the pressure they were exerting on the arms of the chair.

" _Britannica _requests permission to launch"

"In the middle of battle? Denied"

"Capital one destroyed," Mohammed reported, his tone now screaming his exhilaration, he had been responsible for the destruction of an enemy capital ship, "moving to capital two now. Shields 81 and eroding"

"Fuck, where is the fleet?" Morris shouted; her voice harsh as the station shuddered.

"Scattered around the system, no ETAs as yet," Petty officer Barrett reported.

"Contacts disengaging!" Mohammed shouted, "basestars one and two destroyed, number three is exiting. Multiple jump signatures from the minor warcraft"

"Maintain fire," Morris sighed, her hands loosening on the command chair, revealing the marks in the heavy material her hands had moulded into "send them off in style. Reads like a raid, bet they were planning to catch us all in bed, asleep"

"That would be my analysis too," Morris cringed at the voice behind her, "Commodore has the conn,"

The shaky, sweating Ensign stepped away from the command chair, "Commodore… commodore has the conn aye"

The look Peters shot her could best be described as a mixture of approval and concern, but Morris didn't notice. She was slipping into shock.


	43. Chapter 42

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Fourty-Two**

_"This is rearguard four, we are being overrun, request assistance" _

_"Rearguard three, requests assistance. Under heavy attack" _

_"Rearguard five, enemy movement our sector, expecting immanent contact" _

"This," Vladin noted, "is not good"

"We knew it was coming," Hendricks frowned, "we knew the Jaffa were making their way to assault our beachhead and we knew they were taking longer then they should. It is obvious they took the time to regroup and attack in force"

"That would appear to be so," Gel'tec noted, "I am diverting thirty of my Jaffa to reinforce their positions but finding more will be hard"

"For the reinforcements I am thankful," Hendricks frowned, his face falling easily into the expression it had worn so often the last few months, "if the line holds, then Iblis's Jaffa will be shattered between our lines and those of the advancing army and militia units following hard on their tail"

Vladin slammed upright form his slouched position, his battered, aged wooden chair clattering to the ground behind him, the sound echoing of the concrete walls of the bunker, "with the bulk of the Jaffa in our rear defeated, we could shift a mass of units to the assault on the fortress itself"

"It could prove decisive" Gel'tec noted, agreeing, his hand worrying at the black hair of his beard, "but can we afford the time it would take, can we afford to turn away from the primary assault long enough?"

"According to the last update from the Devon Coven sir, we have an two hours before the hellmouth opens fully, an hour before a partial opening" Penhall noted, not glancing up from his array of flashing, clattering displays, print-outs and radios.

"Even a mere partial opening would shift this hellmouth into most active status for the next thousand years," Hendricks frowned, "if that briefing was to be believed"

"I have not seen anything that would give me reason to doubt it yet sir," Penhall commented.

"True Major," Hendricks sighed, "either way, these events will force a permanent military presence here"

"Perhaps," Vladin suggested, "we should order the _Paladin _pilots to hot-drop their passengers onto the most threatened points of the line, remove the time required for the troops to move up to the front"

"That's an increased risk mission," Hendricks noted, "the _Paladins _cannot drop troops and maintain their shields at the same time, as such, the craft would be at increased risk of being shot down right onto our lines"

"On the plus side comrade, they have these pulse lasers, and I am sure weapons designed for anti-missile usage would have little difficulty tracking the much slower Jaffa"

"That is, if the programming of the targeting sensors allows for such," Hendricks pointed out pessimistically, before turning to Penhall, "order hot-drops where needed Major, and pass along Georgiys suggestion too"

"Aye sir," Penhall noted, his hands already flying across a keyboard as he prepared the altered orders for transmission to the commanders in the field.

"Incoming signal from Cheyenne Mountain General," Penhall's eyebrows flickered upwards in surprise, then slight relief as the contents scrolled across a secondary display, "mountain confirmed secure, rescue/recovery and engineering teams are now moving into the base"

"That is good to hear," Vladin noted, "but not as good as hearing of more reinforcements inbound"

"No can do, sorry sir," Penhall replied, sighing in weary disgust.

"Da," Vladin sighed, "I know, but it would have been nice"

Lucien growled, his staff riding on his shoulder as he charged towards the Jaffa position, the, to him, arcane device spitting fire with deadly accuracy despite the SAS NCO's lack of experience with the weapon. But, then, you didn't get to be his age in the SAS without knowing what you are doing, and being able to quickly adapt.

Jaffa were falling, bolts of energy, both staff and zat were flashing both direction along the corridor, the Jaffa firing there weapons with the ease of long experience, the humans, with the grim knowledge that they were dead and the sheer inhuman drive to at least finish the mission, to deal with the enemy before the end came, to defend their homes, to defend their families.

Fear was quick to come into the eyes of the Jaffa, they and their Gods ruled through thousands of years through intimidation and through fear, but they could see these humans were not afraid, all they could see was the certainty of death within the merciless eyes of the soldiers charging towards their position.

A few of the Jaffa shook of their momentary unease, their arrogance blinding them to the threat fast approaching, they had a God on their side, and who could truly threaten the servants of a God?

More Jaffa broke, seeing the inevitable death racing towards them the fled their positions, racing to join their comrades at the next defensive post, and finding only death as the final defensive line obeyed their orders unquestioningly and mindlessly, killing any who approached.

A handful placed down their weapons, feeling almost relieved as they gave up the fight, after all, the Tau'ri were not known for killing those who had surrendered, exactly the opposite in fact, they were known to die to protect their prisoners.

The eyes of one Jaffa flashed, zat'nik'tels rising as he turned his weapons upon those Jaffa still fighting, swiftly knocking them out.

By the time Lucien arrived at the defensive post, none of the Jaffa left within had the will to fight.

* * *

"Vladin," Penhall shouted, his excitement sounding through his voice, "You may just have your wish" 

"Reinforcements?"

" _Invincible _just arrived off the coast; they're flying off their _Harriers _now, loaded for ground attack. They request tanker support nearer to the engagement area"

"That," Hendricks smiled, "is very good news. Do we have any tankers left?"

"Yes sir," Penhall replied, "one of the old VC-10 tankers, was being shifted to the national reserve but circumstances stopped that. Crewed by the survivors of one of the Awacs birds"

"Order them into position," Hendricks barked out, "and make damn sure there's a forward ground controller still alive with the beachhead forces who knows what they're doing"


	44. Chapter 43

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Fourty-three**

"So," Lucien spat out, "you're a Goa'uld"

"Yes," the voice was weary, annoyed and resigned.

"Why help us?"

"You are blunt, aren't you?" The Goa'uld sneered, "very well. Iblis ordered me to hide amongst the Jaffa, pretend to be one of them and report back. The last year alone, I have rooted out ten Free Jaffa agents and reported fifty more whose loyalties were questionable to Iblis. Unfortunately, Iblis is no longer here…"

"What?" Lucien slammed upright, adrenaline flushing through his body once more, making all the aches and pains of overstrained and overused muscles vanish, "explain yourself!"

"Iblis no longer feels his position here is tenable," came the response, "as such he has abandoned his Jaffa here to keep you distracted as long as possible, the mages are still working to open the hellmouth for that same reason. He has few supersoldiers, I suspect he is using them as a personal bodyguard whilst he escapes through your lines. He controls the only route of escape left, I believe it is an _Al-kesh _, therefore if the mages succeed I will die and perhaps worse"

"And you wish to live," Lucien nodded.

"Indeed, I propose a deal. If I give you my every assistance, you will arrange for me to be sent through the chaap'ai to a place where I may continue as I please"

"Hmm," Lucien frowned, then pulled the trigger of his staff, sending a burst of energy right into the head of the Goa'uld, "no deal, don't want you jumping hosts on me"

"You want me to pass what he said onto command sir?" Paxton asked at his side, weariness echoing through the reservist's voice.

"Yes, quickly please," Lucien replied, "if that's true, then somebody is about to get a very nasty surprise"

* * *

Something felt wrong, he was being watched. 

But where from?

He couldn't see anyone at his front, but it was moving into twilight, always the worst time for trying to see as the eyes couldn't adapt quick enough between the bright sky and the dark ground.

A shiver ran through his body, and he stilled, then spun around, rifle already raised in his hands.

His body broken and torn, the young, scared Private joined the long list of the dead.

* * *

"Michael," the Captain spat into his radio exasperated, "I saw that… please tell me you don't have your flashlight and head buried in a book again" 

"Michael," he continued, when it became obvious that the target of his ire had no intention of responding, "I'm warning you, we're under combat conditions now and we are very undergunned. If anyone dies because you couldn't get you head out of a book for just _one _mission, then I will have your guts for garters"

"Captain,"

A voice screamed, and Captain McCann looked up swiftly, seeing only a dark form that knocked him off his feet and heavily into the side of his hastily dug shell-scrape. The body above him jerked, bolts of light flashing all around him, and sudden sharp pain pierced his legs, then his chest.

His left lung screaming, McCann glanced up, over the body of his momentary saviour, and saw death.

It seemed that time paused for a moment, an eternity as McCann held the eyes of his death, then his hand, still clasped around his radio, jerked into life, bringing the black box towards his mouth, transmit button clasped in a deaths grip.

_"Outer-ring seven, Daedalus ! Daedalus! Daedalus!" _

There was a flash, and McCann knew no more.

* * *

"Outer-ring seven, that's on the other side of the Goa'uld base from the primary assault. The forces we have in that area… well, they are pickets at best. Just about suitable for getting a warning out before they are overrun" 

"Which," Vladin noted grimly, "is exactly what they did. We need to monitor their movements but if they are moving away from the battle…"

"We have a satellite overhead," Penhall pointed out swiftly.

"Da," Vladin nodded sharply, "is it realtime capable?"

"Yes sir,"

"Then it is to be retasked, have it monitor the supersoldiers"

"No," Hendricks stepped away from the primary tactical display towards the two officers, "pass the word to the _Ha'taks. _They will kill the supersoldiers as planned; we cannot have any of them running loose"

"Aye Sir," Penhall noted, his hands racing over his keyboard once more.

"The assault goes well," Gel'tec noted, his gaze firmly held by the flickering light of the tactical display, icons moving with deadly purpose across the massive screen, "but the rearguard is weakening"

Hendricks nodded his agreement as he turned back to the display, "agreed, but…"

The screen flashed black for a moment, then steadied, new icons appearing representing fires in the Jaffa ranks and the racing forms of two _Harriers _diving back across the enemy lines.

"The air support is apparently here at least"

"Those fighters did not appear on the display until they had attacked," the aged Jaffa pointed out.

"I know," Hendricks shook his head, "the display is useful, but you must remember, it is only accurate as the reports that are fed into its computers and the swiftness with which they are added"

Gel'tec frowned, "how do you tell when the last report was fed in for each representive blip?"

Hendricks shrugged, "as I understand it, that is planned for the next revision. This is one of the SGCs newest and unfinished toys, a battlefield control computer capable of controlling not only planetary based assets involved in a battle, but extra-planetary as well"

"Then that blip, it is in orbit?"

"Yes," Hendricks replied, tapping at the indicated blip, "it is in fact a cylon basestar…"

The generals eyes widened with horror, "oh bloody hell!"

* * *

"New contact, faint" 

Dodge glanced around as the voice sounded from the Tactical console of his bridge, "Tentatively identify as a _Dauntless _II, most likely _Defiant. _Seems Enerina had the same idea Captain"

"Can she pick us up?"

"Unlikely, her sensors are capable of it, probably more so, later models, but it's a green crew"

"Not quite," Dodge noted, knowing full well that most of Enerinas crew were survivors of the _Del Shakka Mel. _

"She's been detected, Basestar is launching fighters"

Alright then…" Dodge grinned, like a shark, " _Battlestations! Drop stealth, all weapons, fire as you bear" _

* * *

Basestar BX-OE-65-E3 realized in point-zero-one of a second that it was dead. 

The Tau'ri had successfully defeated its sensors to a point where two warships could close to lethal range before detection, and had managed to catch the massive vessel whilst its drives were recycling, unable yet to trigger another jump. The Tau'ri had opened fire _whilst _the shields were being raised and had successfully destroyed two generators, creating a gap in the coverage.

They would exploit that, the basestar knew they were good at that.

Its options were simple then, the basestar itself might not be able to escape but its fighters could and preservation of resources was unfortunately a very real directive now. It remembered to fondly the days it could just send wave after wave of its mindless brethren after the _Galactica, _letting them die to make those pitiful survivors think the cylons still intended to destroy them.

As for itself, why it would just have to make the Tau'ri pay before it died.

It thoughts complete, the basestar transmitted its orders.

* * *

_"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire!" _

Dodge glanced around, his mouth already opening to bark his orders when his tactical officer continued, "radiological alarm, ninety plus inbound nukes"

Dodges mouth suddenly went dry; nukes weren't anti-ship weapons, after all, most ships had shields that could shrug off several nukes, but ninety plus?

"Double shields! CIWS free! Break off, get us out of here, flank speed!"

* * *

"How many?" Enerina demanded, startled and very unamused. 

"I'm reading 250 nukes launched, they've shot their load Captain, Intel suggests that's all a basestar carries" Egerist replied, her eyes not leaving her displays.

"And you trust Intel?" Enerina asked ironically, "rig ship for micro-jump…. And prepare to drag our jump point. We need a net… a jump point will do fine enough"

Egerist blinked, she had been Enerinas most loyal servant for years and was one of the few who could truly say they knew the Goa'uld well. Still, occasionally, even she could be surprised.

"That'll kill our hyperdrives," she replied.

"Then we kill them!" Enerina smiled at her first prime, "I'm sure under the circumstances Peters wont say too much about having to replace them so soon"

Egerist nodded, and then opened an internal channel to engineering.

* * *

"How many?" Peters paled as she glanced across at the tactical displays, "250 Captain, 90 aimed at _Stingray, _they're fleeing…" 

"Cant fucking blame them," Peters noted.

"100 aimed at _Defiant _, shes rigging for jump, 60 heading for Earth"

"Defences?"

"Minimal… most of the nukes appear to be headed for Europe. There are scattered patches of Def Sat coverage and I have ordered all available support craft to intercept, but captain…"

Peters grimly nodded, knowing exactly what she was going to hear, "We're going to see leakers. Lots of them"


	45. Chapter 44

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Chapter Fourty-four**

New Contacts  
Verifying  
Profile match: Missile, Cylon  
Radiological Traces: All Contacts  
Interrogate Stage One: Database indicates no expected / authorised transits matching contact parameters  
Interrogate Stage Two: IFF: no response  
Interrogate Stage Three: General Transmit: Response: Contacts MC1807, MC1654 shifted course. New flight profile indicated: Designated HARM. Profile hostile  
Interrogate Stage Four: Check Flight Profile: Profile Hostile  
Override One: Hostility Probability now 87: Interrogate Bypassed  
Remote Control Bypassed: Weapons Auto-free  
Contacts MASTER designated  
Sensors to Tracking  
Systems to Condition RED: Weapons charge: Power systems: Auto-energise All: Transmit Report: Burst mode  
Activate Battlenet: Domain is UK-London-RSS  
Battlenet: Nine Responses: Add Nine Peers to Battlenet: Peers respond as DEFSATTypeOne  
Battlenet: Log: Responses indicated: Battlenets Active: Domain UK-Birmingham-RSS: 5 Peers Domain UK-RSSStAthen-RSS: 5 Peers No Other Domains Detected Area: UK  
Battlenet: Collating Target lists  
Checking For Mobile Domains  
Mobile Domain Detected: Stingray: Edge Of Range Error  
Assigning Target Priorities  
Priorities Set: Threat to Battlenet Peer: Threat Profiler Path Of Most Contacts  
Battlenet Ready  
Weapons range in 460 Seconds

* * *

Basestar BX-OE-65-E3 revised its options swiftly; the Tau'ri it seemed prized self-preservation too much. Analysis suggested the best option would be to accept the missile swarm rather then risk damage to the Primary, i.e. the Earth. 

It would be added to the report, as would its analysis of the viability of future hit and run assaults. The ability of the Tau'ri to react and adapt was high, but there was little doubt that ability would be degraded by repeated attacks.

Then, at last they would have them, and one threat to Cylon Supremacy would be removed.

In the meantime, it had six minutes left before its drives would be charged enough for it to escape.

The Tau'ri would not be back before then.

* * *

Penhall cursed abruptly, "Sirs, the next wave of reinforcements has been delayed" 

"What?" Hendricks stamped across to the Majors console, consternation written across his face, "We can't afford that"

"Commodore Peters has ordered all craft with CIWS systems to place themselves between the cylon missiles and Earth sir"

Hendricks mouth slipped into a thin hard line, "I thought the _Paladins _were only lightly armed"

"Yes sir," Penhall noted, "the older models have only a pair of fixed forward firing pulse turrets but we've had the later models performing hot-drops as Vladin suggested, there pulse lasers have been shifted to a turret mount"

"And exactly how much good will that do?" Hendricks asked, "I need those reinforcements"

Penhall shrugged, "as I understand it, with sixty nukes inbound they're using everything that has a CIWS battery and _still _coming up short"

The note of reprimand in the Majors voice was mild, but Hendricks caught it nonetheless and was forced to accept it as he realized exactly what kind of arse he had just sounded like.

Penhall winced, his eyes still tracking across his displays, "we have inbound. Missile profile suggests touch-down possible for six missiles within a six mile radius"

"Jesus," Hendricks replied, his tone quiet and heart-felt.

* * *

"They're too many," Georgiy noted quietly, "I doubt we can force our way past that many Jaffa" 

"They're too many is right," Lucien noted, "If we were to check, I bet we would find that at some point recently, the number of contact reports will have dropped off rapidly"

"You think they have recalled everyone to this point?" Paxton asked, swiftly catching on.

"That would figure," Georgiy replied, looking through his binoculars with new eyes. They stopped their swift traversal of the Goa'uld lines, "gotcha. Check out the sixth Jaffa on the left of Mr Gold Tattoo there"

Lucien swiftly glanced across, then nodded, "gun shot wounds… only we're the first ones here"

"Lots of dead Jaffa too," Paxton noted, "what's the betting the Goa'uld decided that with Free Jaffa on our side, he couldn't risk letting more Jaffa slip behind his lines once we had gotten so far inside the complex"

Lucien thought about that a moment, "sounds about right"

"Question," Georgiy nodded, his Russian accent coming through his passable English, "the… First Prime, does he look intelligent type to you? Type to wonder, question perhaps?"

Lucien considered this, glancing carefully across at the individual in question, "you have an idea?"

"Just an idea about… what you call it, a public awareness broadcast?"

Paxton blinked, sharing a look with Lucien, "Oh, I am all ears"

* * *

"Nukes are still tracking us sir," 

"Good," Dodge replied, smiling at Emily, "I think we've drawn them far enough off. Micro-jump us into Earth orbit please, place us in the Defensive perimeter"

Commander Lake smiled, "Aye sir,


	46. Chapter 45

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Fourty-Five**

First Prime Tea'tac was uneasy.

He had never felt the urge to question his Gods orders before, had looked down upon all those who questioned, who showed themselves to be weak, unworthy. Yet, today he found himself questioning.

He didn't like that, it was against the wishes of his God, Iblis, and despite that little voice inside that questioned, Iblis was definitely a God, after all, was he not ascended? Was he not clearly a higher power?

Damn the Tau'ri, he should have known this mission was troubled as soon as it was revealed where they were going, the unholy God-Slayers were always trouble, and whilst he appreciated the thought of stamping such murderous mik'tas out, he didn't appreciate being at the front lines against the devils.

And now…

Now there incessant prattling was getting on his nerves, fifteen minutes now they had been shouting falsehoods and lies across the gap between their two forces, a distraction he had first assumed whilst they moved more of their devil-spawn forces into place.

Tea'tec hated to do it, but he had to admire the simplicity and worse, both effectiveness and devilishness of their plan. They weren't distracting, they were trying… no, they were succeeding in sowing the seeds of doubt, of dishonourable thoughts into the minds of his Jaffa.

Damn the Tau'ri.

Oh, his Jaffa were breaking, they were too uncertain for that, after all, what is the point in making of run for the Tau'ri lines, hoping to surrender when you might find yourselves fired on not just from the Tau'ri but from your fellow Jaffa at your back too? It would be a particularly swift way to die uselessly.

But a questioning Jaffa is one who does not fight particularly well, a questioning Jaffa does not have the blessing of their God and as such, is weaker then a true Jaffa.

He saw no way he could stop the Tau'ri though.

Not when a part of him suspected the truth behind what they said.

Their God would abandon them if it ensured his continuing existence, that Tea'tac agreed with, and he would gladly die as such if it were required, but what could truly kill an ascendant, a true God? What in the name of Iblis could even threaten such a being?

And what was Iblis up to; was he really trying to open a Hellmouth?

He wouldn't, it was unholy.

He couldn't, it was not allowed, even for a God, for the beasts that escaped could never be truly controlled, instead they would corrupt, destroy and even be a threat to the Higher Powers of the Gods themselves.

It had happened before after all, and on this very world.

But Iblis had brought sourcerers, and they were only good for one thing….

As much as he hated to question his God, this he had to investigate. If this was true, then his duty was clear, by the unanimous Edict of the System Lords Iblis would have to die, it was one of the few orders Anubis had announced his agreement with.

Tea'tec wondered for a moment if the Over-God Anubis, highest of all Gods, truly knew what Iblis planned.

* * *

"What the _hell _are they doing?" Peters growled, the _Defiant _very much in her mind as the ships icon dived towards a missile swarm, its icon marked with the indicator for an active jump drive. 

"They seem to be trying to sweep the missiles up Commodore, using their jump drives"

"That'll kill them pretty quickly" Peters snapped.

"Yes M'am, but they've killed thirty missiles already"

She scowled, "inform the portmaster, hes going to have to shuffle the schedules if we survive this. _Defiant _will need at least a full drive refit, most likely a whole new Jump drive"

* * *

Battlenet: Logging Kill: Master CM-1808 by DEFSATTypeOne-LON-RSS-4  
Battlenet: New Target assigned: CM-1810 to DEFSATTypeOne-LON-RSS-4  
Battlenet: Sensor Net Update: 43 Masters Remaining: Battlenet now in Masters Lethal Range  
Battlenet: Peer Lost: DEFSATTypeOne-LON-RSS-2  
Battlenet: Peer Lost: DEFSATTypeOne-LON-RSS-5  
Battlenet: LOG: Leaked CM-1811: Uploading Tracking Data to Central Mainframes: Uploading Tracking Data to Battlenet: Ad-hocUK – Battlenet Type is Mobile/Support Units  
Battlenet: New Peer Detected: Type Mobile: USS _Stingray _  
Battlenet: Override accepted: Battlenet Type Changed to SERVER  
Battlenet: 3 Peers Transferred to _Stingray _Control

* * *

"Times up," Hendricks announced, his eyes resting with an almost hatefilled glare at the bland, but devastating face of the clock on the walls, its white, plain plastics bright against the aged concrete and battered equipment that lined the walls, "we cant afford to wait any longer for more units to move into position. For better or for worse, we go now" 

"Da Comrade," Vladin nodded, his eyes dark, pained, he knew all to well that they didn't have enough troops in place and that many would die, quite possibly for nothing, but time was up, they have no more choices.

"Many a time since I left the service of the false god Cronis I have wondered if there was truly such a thing as a God," Gel'tec shook his bowed head, "but never till now have I felt the urge to take the existence of such on faith. So, I ask any true Gods that may be listening to hear my prayer. May the deaths of our warriors be honourable, and may they not be in vein"

Hendricks nodded, touched, a tear glistening in the corner of his eyes, "amen"

"Amen," Vladin grimaced, "and go forth with valour"

"Penhall," Hendricks paused, a strange tightness in his chest, "give the word"

* * *

_"All frontal units, advance to objective. I repeat; all frontal units, advance to objective. There can be no surrender, and no retreat. Luck, Penhall out" _

Lucien nodded, gazing deeply into the eyes of his squad, "the cry is havoc, no mercy"

"God preserve us," Paxton whispered softly, then, his looted staff raised, began frenzied suppression fire at the Jaffa positions.

"Georgiy, O'Hale, Gregarin, suppressive fire, cover our advance as best you can. Everyone else, we charge on my mark" the SAS NCO briskly ordered, adrenaline flushing away the aches, pains and fatigue of the last few days.

Swiftly, he rose to a crouched, starter's position, then, he breathed deeply, once, filling his lungs with needed oxygen, the men behind him doing the same as word quickly passed back through the mere hundred lined up for the assault across the relatively open ground.

Lucien shouted, once, his feet already pumping as he led the charge, _"at them men!" _

* * *

The Jaffa were caught nervous, uncertain but not unprepared as the desperate Tau'ri launched their advance, joined by the forces of the Free Jaffa, their armour hastily painted blue so as to mark them separate from the Iblis's warriors. 

The Tau'ri move was direct, brutal, whilst most of the warriors charged directly towards the Jaffa positions, not having any other choice given the lack of any cover, a number split to either side of the formation, standing still, tall, proud but vulnerable, they opened fire on the Jaffa positions with whatever weapons they had to had, rifles, machine guns, staffs, and zats.

Some Jaffa ducked, hiding behind cover at the onslaught; many didn't, firing resolutely at the charging mass.

The dieing began on both sides.

* * *

The world is red, blood red. 

No its not, Lucien told himself, that bastard whacked you on the head and your bleeding, now get up and fight before some arsehole comes along and finished you off!

Jerkily, but swiftly, Lucien rose to his feat, his hands quickly diving for, and grabbing a set of discarded zats, he didn't know if they were his, he didn't care. They were weapons, they had ammo, and he could use them, nothing else mattered.

He dived down quickly again, noting swiftly that he was at the final blockade, that the enemy were right the other side of the thick, battered but low wall he was resting against.

It would be a perfect situation….

If he still had some grenades.

Damn, damn, fuck and blast.

He needed a grenade.

He glanced across the battlefield, mentally wincing at the scattered, battered bodies, there were far too many spilling their life's blood into the ground, far too many. Did they have enough people left to complete the mission?

Did it matter, they had to try regardless.

Then he saw them, four grenades attached to the torn body of a Russian private, far to far away for him to get them though. He glanced around, and caught the eye of a Lieutenant in an odd, almost Navy uniform bearing the markings of the space services.

It was obvious she wasn't long for this world, too much blood was spurting out of her body, her breathing too rasping, too harsh, screaming of a collapsed or punctured lung.

Perhaps… did she have it left in her to do one last service for the world?

He flicked his eyes once, twice towards the green and deadly eggs he required.

Puzzled, pained she glanced across.

Lucien saw here eyes widen, in surprise, the recognition.

She glanced at him disbelieving, questioning, then determined.

A scream, pained, tortured, gargled was wrenched out of her throat as she dragged herself towards the grenades with her hands, the few feet she moved revealing a bloody trail and her amputated leg.

She grabbed the grenades, tearing them from the dead soldiers body with a sob, and with an almighty, humbling cry, threw them straight towards him.

As Lucien grabbed the grenades out of the air, he noticed the writing on the females uniform, Lieutenant Castilian, Stores Officer.

As Lucien held Castilians eyes, thanking her silently as she dropped, unmoving to the ground, he promised himself that he would never forget her name as long as he lived.


	47. Chapter 46

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

**The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?**

**Fourty-Six**

Two of the grenades he tied to his belt, knowing that he would have use for them later, the other two he sent spinning over the top of the wall, hoping that it was thick enough to shield him from the blasts.

It was, but still, he felt the wall twist and bend as the eggs detonated. Taking it as his cue, Lucien rose to his feet, screaming as he rose up and clambered swiftly across the wall, zats raised.

Staff and zat fire splattered all around him, the Jaffa responding swiftly to the as yet minor breech of their defences, several racing towards him as he zatted the battered but recovering warriors around him. Four looked dead, but he zatted them twice anyway, just to make sure, couldn't risk somebody coming back to life behind him after all.

A form dropped into view beside him, and Lucien twisted around, zat raised defensively. It was a Jaffa, his armour still stinking of the blue paint hastily scratched up to identify the Free Jaffa troops from those of the enemy.

Another figure jumped across, a soldier, staff held clumsily in inexperienced hands, followed by a third, who slumped, lifeless across the wall, staining it with their life's blood, killed at the very last hurdle.

Lucien ducked, the return fire was becoming intense, too intense in fact, the Jaffa were concentrating too much on what was a minor and perhaps momentary breech, and from the quick glimpses he could grab, it appeared the other troops were capitalising as best they could.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of several figures racing towards him. He glanced across, they were Jaffa, they weren't marked and they were raising weapons in his direction.

They were a threat, they must die.

He spun, zats raised and spitting, two Jaffa fell, single bursts, merely stunned. A return blast from a staff cracked the wall beside him, peppering his face with shrapnel. Once again, he saw red a blood slowly oozed over his eyes, distorting his vision.

But not his ears, the sound of somebody shouting 'ease!' cutting through into his conscious mind like a hot knife through butter, and Lucien dived to the ground, zats still raised, still firing as he lay.

A familiar whoosh, then concussion, the floor dropping out from beneath him, hot smoke stinging his nose, the abrupt wind tearing his zats from his hands.

Groaning, one hand wiping the blood from his eyes, the other frantically feeling for a weapon, any weapon, he half-rose to his feet, remaining ducked behind the wall. Mere feet from his position, he saw the shattered, barely recognisable bodies of several Jaffa and no wall. The rocket had destroyed it, and now, pouring through the gap sprang ten soldier, rifles raised, uniforms relatively clean.

Fresh meat, all the better for the work that would have to be done here.

"Roll-up the breech," Lucien barked, his searching fingers catching the edge of one of his discarded zats, "we need to widen it"

A puzzled glance, and with a groan, Lucien tried again, this time in his halting Russian. That they understood, and with a determined nod, the group advanced along the wall as more figures dived through the breech, or dived across the wall.

They had forced their entry, nearly there.

* * *

"Cylon basestar has jumped, no further contact" 

"Confirm 100 wild missiles, I'm picking up cylon frequency search radars but there is nothing I can see for them to lock onto" Hoskins added, his face not straying from his displays around them the bustle of a busy command centre continued, muted but all to active.

"They," Peters noted, "are going to be a bastard to clean up. Hate to be the EOD boy that gets that job"

"Fuck that sir; drop a nuke amongst 'em"

Peters grinned, "That would work too, still have a few to clean up though but nothing a decent AA platform couldn't handle. Well done Sub"

"Now reading 20 leakers past Stingray and the defence net. The support craft are not going to be able to deal with even half of those"

She nodded, "I know, but every missile they take out"

"Fuck. We lost the ad-hoc net, nuke proximity detonated"

Peters chilled, "they were loaded with soldiers for the fight outside London. How many did we lose?"

"I've lost total contact with twenty-five _Paladins. _Ten squawking a mayday, sixteen non-responsive and three… three dead, and _dropping, _rapidly"

"Give me some good news, please" Peters barked, annoyed, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.

The sub shrugged, "the blast looks to have killed three Cylon nukes as well"

"Oh _great," _the Commodore continued bitterly, "three down is going to make a real difference. Flash a signal to the defence-air batteries on the ground, what's left of them. Maybe they can have better luck"

"Aye Commor… _new contact! _Low orbital, sensor data suggests jump type drive. It's a Capital ship"

"In low orbit?" Peters shook her head, "we're fucked. Recall all the pickets, we've…"

"Sir," Sub Hoskins glanced up for the first time, eyes wide, "reading Colonial IFF's, it's _Galactica… _and she is right in the path of the Cylon missiles"

Peters darted forward, her eyes disbelieving as she glanced at the display, she shook her head, shaking herself back to attentiveness, her arms noticeably shaking from fatigue, stress and a severe lack of anything resembling a decent meal.

"Let's worry about how they managed that one later, upload a full update to their tactical computers," Peters ordered, "and hope they are in a mood to accept it, paranoid idiots"

"Aye Commodore"


	48. Chapter 47

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fourty-Seven**

_"Radiological Alarm!" _

There are lots of things you hope to hear when you leave jump, and equally as many things you don't want to hear. That certainly fell into the later category.

"Raise shields, set condition two and report status" Adama barked, abandoning his coffee as he strode towards the central control desk.

"Sir, we have multiple inbound nukes… I'm reading approximately fifty,"

"Set condition one throughout the ship," the Commander barked swiftly, "set weapons free and launch the Alert Five _Vipers _"

"Yes Sir," Chief Petty Officer Agapi replied, "Sir, _Thundersdawn _station is attempting to upload a tactical update to our computers. Hash-check confirms, rotating password confirms, no indications that the station is compromised, no indications the data stream has been corrupted"

"Accept," Adama frowned, he didn't like having any kind of networked computers on his ship, but unfortunately the Tau'ri systems the upgrade had added often required them, though the Tau'ri had certainly made a great deal of effort to ensure that they were secure and minimal, the thought of allowing any kind of remote connection to his ships systems…. Yet he had dropped in, expecting to just swap the _Viper _squadron that had been loaned to the Tau'ri and found his ship under heavy attack. He needed that update; he needed to know what the frak was going on.

"Sir, _Virgon _and _Libra _are requesting permission to launch," Agapi replied, her accent thick, lilting, distinctive, reminding everyone with every word she spoke of the Gemon Uplanders, hidden deep within the mountains of that former colony, "Recommend against, the inbounds are too close"

Adama nodded, his eyes tracking up to the Sensor repeater installed above the central console for just a second, "agreed. Tell Dualla she will just have to ride this one out"

He grunted, his eyes tracking across the primary tactical display as it swiftly updated it self, the blood-red, threatening icon of an external data-feed prominent in the top corner of the display. He scowled, and it deepened as more and more icons appeared, dead craft, wild missiles, debris fields, craft squawking for assistance, craft no longer responding at all, and the swarms of hostile missiles, their icon screaming not just threat, but of the Great Enemy, the Cylons.

"A Raid," he spat out disgusted, "the missiles aren't even aimed at us, they're aimed at the planets surface"

Adama shook his head, well aware that at his words the bridge had utterly stilled; this hit a little too close for comfort for far too many Colonials.

"Kill those missiles, and do it fast"

Even as he spoke, the first missile indicator crossed the thin green line that marked the outer boundary of _Galactica's _Tau'ri made CIWS batteries engagement envelope, and promptly vanished.

* * *

_"Abominations!" _Tea'tec was alarmed, disgusted and dismayed. 

He knew that his master was a God, and yet he committed the unthinkable, he consorted with the fallen, with the demon, to bring back their rein upon this Earth. Even as he watched, he could see blood seeping out of the ground as Iblis's sourcers, alive in name only, continued their wretched chanting, their eyes vacant, bland, clearly under the control of the Nish'ta as even before his eyes, their bodies corrupted with the darkness they were channelling.

No, God he might be, but Tea'tec could see with his own eyes that Iblis had committed an act which consigned him unto the Fallen, therefore he deserved no loyalty.

The Tau'ri, as much as he hated to say it, had the right of this situation.

He would have to stop the fight, arrange a truce, arrange to join forces to stop this abomination in its tracks and he would have to do it _fast. _

Then, he would find a way to see to Iblis, he would have to kill the Fallen God.

* * *

_"Kree Jaffa, Ni'ya! Kree'ta Sha'lokma'kor, Iblis Kresh'taa Kalash! Tyger, Tok Tuat Iblis Kree!" _

"What the hell is he shouting about?" Lucien asked wonderingly, his alien pistols raised, and then he frowned, his head turning disbelievingly as he heard the started shout of the Jaffa, or at least those few who had learned English, shouting to cease fire.

The fire from both sides slowed, and then abruptly stopped. The sudden silence was disquieting, almost unnatural.

Lucien ignored it, though it sent a shiver deep into his soul, and glanced across, looking for whoever had shouted for the cease fire. The unknown Jaffa was still shouting, it sounded as if he was repeating his message, not that it mattered, he couldn't understand a word of it. All he knew was that the enemy Jaffa had turned their weapons away from his troops and were slowly, grimly, heading as one towards the last door, the one Lucien's instincts told him led directly to the hellmouth himself.

The Jaffa spoke again, this time it was definitely a repetition. This time however, his words were joined by those of a second Jaffa, apparently translating.

_"Attention Jaffa, Listen! Stop that killing, for Iblis has outcast his soul! Stop, and resist the underworld Iblis has summoned" _

Lucien shook his head disbelieving, it couldn't be, not after this, not after all this death and sacrifice… The enemy could not just turn their guns away and join them in their fight!

Yet, it appeared they had.

* * *

"Sir," Penhall glanced up puzzled, hi hands pressing his headphones deeper into his ears, as if he could not truly believe what he was hearing, "reports from all quadrants… all resistance had ceased. The Jaffa have stopped fighting" 

Hendricks smiled, and then broke out into a full grin, "perfect, I want as many units as possible poured into securing the Goa'uld base and I want a full fifty men escorting the Devon Coven into position"

"Sir…" Penhall's voice was disbelieving, wondering, "the enemy Jaffa… they are requesting permission to _assist. _Something about a line that should not be crossed, I don't understand the messages I am receiving sir"

Gel'tec chuckled, it was a dark, dry laugh, heavy laced with irony, "Iblis would not have told them what he was doing, he knew that they would turn against him if they knew. If every one of his Jaffa has stopped fighting however, then I am afraid your jamming technologies need some work"

Penhall frowned, glancing across his scrolling displays, even as his hands kept his headphones tight against his head, "he's right sir, every enemy Jaffa, all within mere minutes of each other"

"If you believe in Gods," Gel'tec shook his head, "then you must at some level believe in the anti-god, the demon. I am afraid that Iblis's actions have condemned him, for all we hate to speak of it, we all know of the demon and by actively consorting with such, Iblis is outcast by all Goa'uld and Jaffa"

"This will change things," Vladin noted, "Iblis is a servant of Anubis, if the Jaffa spread this incident then Anubis might lose the support of all his surviving Jaffa"

"That," Hendricks frowned, "is not a question for now. We escort the Coven in, arrange for them to be protected whilst they do their jobs. At the same time… we need to move a lot of troops, we need to be ready should they fail"

Vladin nodded, his head tracking wearily towards the central tactical display, "you are right of course comrade"

"Now, first thing I suggest we do is set up a killing field around the base, with positions…."


	49. Chapter 48

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fourty-Eight**

"Our shields can withstand a few nukes; let them come," Adama spoke abruptly, "shift all batteries, concentrate fire on any missile that looks likely to slip past us"

"That's a little… risky" Colonel Tigh commented slowly.

"Perhaps," the commander bit out in response, "but I have to have faith in _Galactica's _shields and her armour, at least, unlike during our escape, we have our full armoured plate in place, not removed as unnecessary to a mere museum ship"

The ship rocked, and Adama grimaced as the lights flickered just for a moment, but it was gentle, muted, a shield strike instead of an armour strike. His ship was fine.

The ship rocked again, harder, and he found himself forced to grab onto the tactical console just to have a hope of standing on his feet.

"Multiple shield strikes…." Agapi commented, anticipating Adama's request as a good officer should, "shields at 87 and failing. No leakers at this time"

"Where are the _Vipers? _" Tigh asked, his voice oddly distorted.

Worried, Adama glanced up to see Tigh carefully get to his feet, blood running from his mouth, a bruise already forming across his face, the red splattered DC Console a mute testament to his injury.

"Hot-dog has them deployed to a lower orbit, looks like they're after leakers"

"Good," he commented, a slight smile crossing his face as he contemplated for just a moment the young volunteer and exactly how far he had come since his nearly being washed out by Starbuck with the rest of the first class aboard _Galactica, _"re-set weapons priorities, equal to leakers and ship-threats"

"Aye Commander," Agapi said, and Adama turned away as she quickly tapped the change into the touch screens of her console.

"Commander," the shout came loudly from the single helm console that had replaced the four thrusters controls and single FTL-drive control of old, a change he didn't exactly approve of, but was forced to accept that it was mandated not just by the technology but by the need to reduce personnel requirements on every warship, "the blasts from the nukes are pushing us into a lower orbit. I'm having a little difficulty compensating"

He grimaced as the crewman's words were underscored as the ship shook again, the lights dimming as power was automatically diverted to reinforce the shields.

"Shields critical, 37 integrity" Agapi commented calmly, though Adama knew that if he could spare the time for a quick glance, the dark-skinned officer would be ramrod straight and tense, her emotions betrayed by her body, not by her voice. For Agapi, it was almost always that way.

"Rotate the ship across the y-axis, bring our starboard batteries to bear and mask the weakened port shields" he ordered swiftly, it was an obvious order, but it would, for a short-time at least, increase the chances of leakers past the CIWS batteries as their minimal controlling computers would have to compensate not just for the movement of the enemy ships, but for a major movement by _Galactica _too. This was somewhat compensated for by the fact that, for a brief few seconds, both sets of batteries would be able to partially bear but there was still an increased risk.

"Aye sir" the helmsman of the watch replied even as Agapi spoke once more.

_"Shields breeched, port primaries failed" _

"Rotate the ship now" he barked, his expression tensed as he grabbed tight onto the tactical console and waited. The universe didn't disappoint him, and he felt the console rise up to meet his face even as the icon for _Galactica _on the displays shifted. The concussive shock through the deckplates Adama knew too well, he had felt it far too many times before, the direct impact of a nuclear device on the hull itself.

* * *

"Free Jaffa _Ha'taks _report they have engaged a _Tel'tac _attempting to leave the atmosphere, vessel is not responding to hails and is attempting to evade contact" 

Hendricks grimaced, "that will be Iblis escaping the net"

"Does he have the supersoldiers with him?" Vladin asked calmly.

"No real way of knowing unless they show up… and we can't risk any supersoldiers heading for the mouth. That place has been consecrated with far too much blood already" Hendricks replied swiftly, glancing knowingly at Gel'tec.

"Agreed, as much as I would dearly love to see another false god potentially destroyed…" Gel'tec turned towards Penhall with a frown, "order the _Ha'taks _to break off and begin a sweep of the surface for the supersoldiers"

"If they find them," Hendricks added, "they are fully authorised to engage with their main batteries"

"That'll do it," Vladin muttered in his native Russian, "might even disprove rule 37"

"Priority one signal from _Thundersdawn _sir," Penhall grimaced, "the last wave of reinforcements got hit bad"

"How bad?" General Hendricks asked sharply.

"Very," the Major shook his head, "according to Peters… we may be looking at a total loss"

"Dear God," Hendricks groaned, dismayed, "that's 54 _Paladins, _10 soldiers to a _Paladin… _that's 540 dead plus the crews!"

"Sadly…" Vladin shook his head mournfully, "that truly is just a drop in the ocean"

"I know," Hendricks frowned, "but I don't have to like it"

"How goes the final assault?" Gel'tec asked, bringing the minds of the group firmly back to the business of the hour.

"We hold the Goa'uld base now and have the hellmouth itself surrounded. Unfortunately, there is a shield preventing the mages from being killed. The coven is moving swiftly into position now, but time will be an issue"

"Time will always be an issue," an unknown voice said, and the four looked across startled as an unknown stepped into the room, "Frank Parker, NSA. I have the book the Coven will need"


	50. Chapter 49

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fourty-Nine**

I have seen some strange sights in my time, but Agent Parker managed at that moment, to take the cake. He was in a bright orange jumpsuit with all markings removed, in pistol holsters he had a pair of zats, on his back he had some sort of pack that looked like the bastard child of a shuttle reaction thruster pod and some kind of sci-fi jumppack, his body was bulked out, heavily so, enough to make me think he was wearing some hefty armour underneath the jumpsuit rather then just a body-builder. In his hands was a battered, somewhat scorched clear plastic case containing what had to be one of the oldest books I have ever seen, in fact, if I am to be honest, it wasn't even a book, it was a scroll and it didn't look like it was a paper scroll either. The case was chained on a long heavy link to Parkers back-pack thingy and Frank himself, well, he just looked like he had survived World War IV, he was battered, bruises marred his face and he was holding his left leg very awkwardly, perfectly straight.

He made quite the impression.

"You might want to get this to the front fast," the man shrugged, "otherwise a lot of people will end up dying to retrieve it… again. Think you could get it right this time, its only your fourth attempt and I'm afraid the sphere got burnt out this time trying to get you a few more minutes so I wont be going back again"

"You…" I blinked, "just succeeded in making no sense whatsoever"

Frank groaned, "Can we worry about a lack of proper four-dimensional pronouns later and just get the book rushed to the coven ASAP?"

"Four-dimensional pronouns? I don't want to know" shrugging, I nodded to Penhall, giving the silent order to obey the strangers instructions. I wasn't too sure of who or what perhaps he was, but the fact that he had been allowed into the central bunker said a lot.

"I do," Vladin grimly commented, "you are Conundrum are you not?"

"Yes," Frank replied, eyeing the Russian General warily.

"Are you aware that the Russian government budgets 2 billion rubles a year just to figure out you've been up too?"

Frank grinned, "Only two billion?"

"Typical American Folly," Vladin noted, "certain things should not be messed with"

So, Vladin knew of Parker and didn't like it, interesting.

"No longer an issue," Parker grimaced, "the sphere could handle a naquadah generator _once. _Now, the damn thing has been burnt out"

"There's a seized civilian helo spooling up on top of the bunker now sir," Penhall noted, breaking into the conversation, "with no units still providing resistance, it should be safe to fly you direct to the engagement zone"

Nodding, Frank Parker ran from the room and I turned to Penhall, one further order falling from my lips, "make sure a guard goes with him, one who knows to shoot the bastard right between the eyes if he proves to be a threat"

* * *

"We've lost about a quarter of the port pulse lasers," Tigh commented angrily, "looks like a direct hit to the aft section of the suppression array" 

"Noted," Adama grimaced, "they'll need to be replaced as a priority"

Tigh nodded once sharply, "Aye Sir," before turning back to the DC section.

"Manoeuvre completed," came the shout from the helm, "port hull now masked"

" _Vipers _have intercepted three leakers," Agapi calmly added, "one leaked. Estimated area of impact… the English Channel, close to the town of Margate"

"Estimated casualties?" Adama asked, dismayed and angry that even one nuke had gotten past their defences.

"Minimal, the English Channel is listed as a water feature"

Adama allowed himself a smile of relief for just a moment, before his grim look returned as the mighty ship shook once more, muted again, this was shield impact.

"Status of the other defences?" he asked, swiftly.

"Local Defensive Satellite network has been reduced, I'm reading only two sats remaining, war book says there should be nine," the young officer replied, "one _Dauntless _class, the _Stingray _is assisting. Several MTBs racing in from _Thundersdawn _station, looks like they were caught re-arming. Just sixteen missiles remaining"

He glanced up, catching the young CPO's eyes with a tight grin, despite being caught off guard; they might just manage to do this.

* * *

Lew Jarvis was a fisherman, he wasn't a particularly good one, but he was good enough to get by. This was helped by his estrangement from his family, all of whom had at least a million in the bank by the time they hit twenty-five and assumed that anyone who thought money wasn't the answer to all questions was retarded. 

Lew knew he wasn't retarded, after all, he was the only one of the bunch who had been to University and gotten a hard degree, a full PhD in Marine Biochemistry, the others… well, lets just say Lew laughed at the thought of Political Science actually being a science and thought that economics fit most of the family. Not one of them, as far as he was concerned, had gotten anything that was worth the paper it was printed on.

Truth be told, he liked the simple life, he had his boat, he made enough to keep himself and his ship going, what more did he want?

This simple difference of philosophy he knew had kept him estranged from his family for the past fifteen years, but he didn't care, he wasn't going to change, not for them. He was perfectly happy where he was.

And now…

Now, even from his perch in the channel he could see the great clouds of smoke that covered London and the surrounding countryside as the city once more burned. He couldn't do anything about that, that was the governments job and right now, they were a little overwhelmed. He knew all to well that by the time the situation eased enough for the government to get the city back under control, then that little fire storm would make the Great Fire 1666 look like a simple house fire.

No, he couldn't help with that, but there were a lot of people crowding into makeshift refugee camps all around the countryside, they all needed water, which he couldn't help with, and food, which, in his own minor way, he could.

Sure, a few tonne of fish wasn't going to make a massive difference, but it might make some, and that for him was enough. Besides, it kept him on his own, busy, well away from the crowds, the chaos and perfectly positioned to escape to the continent should the worst come to the worst.

Something caught his eye, and to his dying day, Lew had no idea what exactly made him look up then, but he did.

Flash.

Flash.

Burning but momentary brightness, all in the same spot, that strange blue, harsh glow around a small, barely noticeable spot in the skies.

A battle, another one, it had to be.

Dear God, they were attacking again, why couldn't they just leave them alone? Hadn't they done enough damage already?

Apparently not, he decided, as immune to his silent, but heartfelt pleas, the explosions continued, harsh, bright but eerily silent.

His eyes caught something, a trail of blackened, burnt air as something raced towards the ground.

Dear God, they missed one. Where's it headed?

Here. It's headed here.

Frantic, Lew abandoned the set he was laying, and ran for the small compact bridge, his hands dropping onto the throttle just as the Cylon missile detonated.

Lew was lucky, though he never truly saw it that way.

He was on the periphery of the explosion and the sea took much of the energy of the explosion away as millions of gallons of water were instantly vaporised. His ship also had its stern to the explosion, allowing the small mass of gantries and metal storage racks at the rear of his ship to absorb much of the harmful radiations.

Still, he had his eyes open and the fierce heat and light of the explosion reflected off the water, searing his eyes.

Lew Jarvis would never see again.


	51. Chapter 50

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty**

"For the record," Helga commented sourly, "I hate mystical shields"

"Really?" the tall, willowy brunette at her side replied wryly, "now why would that be? Pray do enlighten me?"

"Cut that out Cerys," Helga noted, "or I will 'enlighten' your arse once this is over"

Cerys snorted, "assuming you've got the energy…. Okay, Merlins Reveal has done nothing, neither has Cloiters… I'm not even going to mention the blasted 'All seeing Eye' spell…"

"Well," Helga commented slightly bemused, "at least we know and hey, avoidance of Doctors is always a good thing"

"Sure, you're really going to be saying that in nine months or so," Cerys snorted, "and we're off topic. How are we going to take this blasted shield down? Its certainly magic not technological, but unless we know what magic…"

"Worse," Alise noted walking up to the two, "it could be a combination, several magics, or magic and technology…"

"Oh," Cerys grimaced, turning to Alise, "you have such wonderful thoughts"

The short, rather plain witch shrugged, "Tenhemans Eye just failed… but according to Horus's Eye the answers we seek are on their way in the arms of a man out of time"

Cerys winced, "I _hate _Horus's eye, that spell is to close to chaos for me"

"True," Helga noted, "but at least we know something new now… I just hope this 'man out of time' has enough time to get here on time"

Cerys blinked, counted the times and decided not to comment.

"Contact report from the _Ha'taks _sir," Penhall shouted, abruptly turning away from his communications console, "ten Supersoldiers on the ground, moving back towards the objective from the launch site. They report they are engaging with main batteries"

"Well," Hendricks commented, "killed by overwhelming force… I hope we can consider them dealt with"

"Indeed," Gel'tec noted tiredly, "but the supersoldiers are amazingly resilient. I would not consider them dead until you see their burnt, shredded and scattered remains"

Vladin chuckled, "perhaps we should order a transport with rings into position, have the bodies moved into vacuum…"

"Unstable orbit so they burn up in the atmosphere?" Penhall suggested.

Gel'tec blinked, "that would certainly do it, however I am certain Intel would love the remains, know thine enemy after all"

"Well," Hendricks sighed, "remember it, just in case"

"In the meantime," Vladin noted, "I think it's safe to consider London itself pacified as far as the enemy is concerned"

The Russian General tapped at the status display, bringing up the city itself, "however the city is in chaos. Firestorms…" he tapped again, and roughly a third of the city suddenly flickered red and yellow as fire graphics swarmed the map, "we know there are groups of looters and worse loose… several prisons have been breeched"

Hendricks nodded, tapping at a particular icon on the display, "Wormwood Scrubs is burnt out, there was at least a thousand prisoners in there"

"So, we need to get the fires in the city under control. In order to do that, we need to swamp the city we every apparatus we can get our hands on"

"Penhall," Hendricks turned his head back towards the Major, "send a general call for fire equipment. Activate whatever reserve equipment you can, scrounge as much as possible from across the country and arrange where necessary for available units to move into the city and guard any surviving equipment. I want helicopters and heavy lift equipment tasked to moving fire personnel, fire engines into the city. Get logistics to arrange control points and assembly areas stat"

Vladin grimaced, "in order for the firemen to work effectively, the city must be pacified"

"I believe," Gel'tec noted, "that another regiment is due in from Russia?"

"Penhall," Hendricks grimaced, "check that too. If so, first and foremost we'll need guard details for the fire engines. Secondly, we need to ensure the security of surviving infrastructure, pumping stations for definite, but power too, we're going to need a lot of water if we are going to stop the whole city burning"

"We'll need engineers and demolitions experts too," Penhall noted, "to repair or even build infrastructure where needed and the demolitions experts to create fire breaks"

"Get logistics onto that too," Hendricks frowned, glancing tiredly across the displays, wincing, "this isn't over yet, is it?"

"No Comrade," Vladin shook his head wearily, "it is not"

"Missiles out of range," Agapi sighed, sweat dripping down her face as she looked up from her displays, " _Vipers _are pursuing the last leaker now, but its headed into the sea again"

Adama grunted, "Thank the Lords for small favours"

Tigh nodded, "I've back tracked the engagement we dropped into, looks like the basestar wasn't really aiming, it was just throwing around too many missiles to ignore"

"Trying to escape," Adama grimaced, "did it?"

"It did, but mere minutes earlier; _Thundersdawn _took out two of its compatriots"

"Then this was a co-ordinated attack" Adama grimaced, "signal Freedom, make sure the defences are still on full alert and spin up the FTL drives, I want us ready to jump to reinforce home defences at a moments notice"

"Aye Sir," Tigh nodded, turning away from his commander.

Adama sighed, his eyes dark as he gazed across the tactical display, not liking what he saw at all, and certainly not liking what it meant for the assistance the Tau'ri were giving them to resettle their own civilisation. With the damage he could see planetside and in orbit, Adama had a feeling that things were about to change, and perhaps not for the better.


	52. Chapter 51

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty-one**

The FAE, or Fuel Air Explosive was a simple, though deadly device, one that some say was born when World War II pilots noticed the effects their abandoned external fuel tanks had when they hit the ground, some say it was born of the grain silo explosion, either way, it was a tool much feared and respected.

It also had explosive power second only to a thermonuclear device, indeed, for use in confined spaces, a good argument could be made that the FAE was superior. The space certainly wouldn't be confined for long.

Its principles were simple, the power of any explosive is proportional to its surface area, a minor increase in the area of the explosive exposed to the air would lead to large increase in the force of the detonation, and like dust in a grain silo, the explosives used in the FAE were all surface area, indeed, they were a gas.

* * *

"Do you think it took?" Helga asked, groaning, her body leaden as she slipped towards the ground, blood streaming from her nose. 

Cery's whimpered, but forced herself to her feet, quickly casting, her face agonised as she tried to force more power through her body then it was willing to take. A spell she could have done in her sleep made almost deadly difficult by the strain the last spell had placed upon her ability to channel the energies of the earth. The corrupted energies of the hellmouth didn't help either.

Around them, a glowing mist appeared, quickly being blown, distorted and moved by the myriad drafts of the complex and Helga chuckled as she recognised a spell once used by Ripper, a spell still talked about… as the day as radioactive cloud settled over London.

The unnatural mist touched the glowing, malevolent force of the mystically enhanced Goa'uld shield, shied away from it for just a moment, then passed through, swirling around the bloody, shattered, mindless forms of Iblis's mages as they chanted, foul, hateful words spilling from their mouths, corrupting their bodies.

"It's done," Helga shouted, then yelped as she was grabbed, swiftly thrown over the shoulder of the tall, dark solider who had been standing at her side as her guard. Her stomach rebelled, forcing her to carefully control the urge to throw up as she was taken from the room, the soldier not sparing his cargo as he ran with desperate speed away from the central room of the Goa'uld complex and back into the blood splattered mess of the final battlezone.

The outer walls of the room gaped, large sections missing, quite a few burning, torn, destroyed but if Helga could have looked up close, she would have seen the signs of hasty, frantic removal around the gaping holes of many removed segments.

Helga frowned as she spotted the missing segments, she couldn't understand why they had been laid up against the wall, almost forming a ramp, with the lowest end pointing towards the walls of the central, final chamber of the Goa'uld encampment and the devices set within.

She blinked as the soldier ran up the ramp, jumping swiftly down as he reached the edge where he tossed her against the wall, throwing himself protectively over her body.

She blinked again, her mind considering the ramp, the form of the soldier above her and the hastily set devices in the room beyond, devices which had been lowered by helicopter through holes blasted through the roof.

"Oh, you have _got _to be kidding"

* * *

A grain silo explosion occurs because grain burns. If grain was inert, if it required special conditions such as high temperatures to ignite, a grain silo would most likely never go up, but grain burns. 

And like all places, grain silos collect dust.

Worse, grain gives off dust, dust which collects on the floor, amongst the grain, and collects in the air, dust which burns….

All it takes is a spark.

At the moment of that spark, the air itself appears to ignite as the dust flowing through it ignites.

The result is catastrophic, an explosion of such power as to level buildings in the immediate area and damage others for several miles around the silo.

Now, imagine that the explosive in question is not merely a flammable solid but a gas, specially designed for maximum effect?

The FAE is simply a delivery system for such a gas, when activated, values open, allowing the highly pressured and explosive gas to vent into the air, the high pressure of the gas meaning it moves rapidly to fill the surrounding spaces.

The bomb then generates a simple spark…

* * *

The Earth moved. 

That had happened before for Helga, but unfortunately not recently.

Never did the Earth move quite like this before either…

The ground beneath her she could feel jolt, enough so as to bounce her and her shield into the air for just a moment. There was sound, pure, unholy, furious and loud, sensations, the air being torn from her lungs, heat burning across her face, her legs, any part of her not huddled under the protective embrace of her guardian, there was taste, hot, black, oily, burnt, there was sight, bright, brilliant even through her closed eyelids.

It was a moment of pure sensation, and then it was over.

It was followed by brief merciful silence, just a moment of calm.

Then the screams began.


	53. Chapter 52

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty-Two**

_"Allied military commands maintain a high state of alert today despite the surrender of the last Goa'uld forces known to be loose in the countryside surrounding London. The city itself is in tatters, a firestorm the likes of which has not been seen since the Second World War raging through its streets, the citizens themselves having long since fled. _

_Fire-fighters both from the surrounding area and airlifted in from as far away as Edinburgh are slowly moving into the city, supported by reserve engines manned by the military and under heavy armed escort. The city is not under control, the government and the military are not even pretending it is, what they are saying is that their priority is to get the city back onto its feet as fast as possible, a task that will prove exceptionally difficult given the extent of the fires raging out of control and the hordes of looters and escaped prisoners rampaging through its streets. _

_All this is complicated by the possible presence of alien troops and perhaps even alien booby traps inside the city itself, most likely troops who have not yet received word about the surrender. _

_All we can say for certainty at this time is that rebuilding is likely to take years and will cost perhaps hundreds of billions of pounds, and that is before the clean-up cost of the Exeter Exclusion zone is entered into" _

* * *

_"Here I stand on the edge of what was at one point fertile farmland. As far as the eye can see, it still is, yet I can hear no birds in the trees, nor can I see them. The small thicket behind me is totally quiet, only the sound of the wind whistling through the trees disturbs that. _

_This is a dead-zone, radioactive, unsafe and unliveable. _

_We are just on the out-skirts of what is now known as the Exeter Exclusion Zone, the cathedral city reduced to glowing ruins by a Cylon 'dirty' nuclear missile. _

_Yet, just beyond me you can see people moving inside the houses, smoke slowly drifting out of chimneys and children playing in the snow. _

_The military was forced out of this area, redeployed to London and that allowed these people to move back in. They did so, ignoring all warnings from the government. _

_Now, the Army is moving back in and they are not sparing them. _

_These people are being detained and slowly but surely every unprotected person within the exclusion zone is being moved in contained camps under heavy military guard. They are not being allowed to leave roam uncontrolled and unprotected. _

_Our sources within the army are being quite blunt; they do not expect most of these people to survive long. Those that do survive are almost guarantied to suffer from cancerous tumours at some point in their lives, even the children. _

_I at least am protected by this cumbersome radiation suit, as are the army units moving back into the area. Everyone else has just brought a world of hurt down upon themselves" _

* * *

_"Thundersdawn station, battered, but unbroken. This facility is the oldest defence the sol system and our Earth has, it is the only major repair facility for Earth spaceships in the system, and it is overloaded. _

_This station has nine warship slips; each is occupied with new construction or ships under repair. The same is true for Ravenbright and we are told for the secretive Edonia station. _

_And there is a queue, two Earth warships await repairs inside the Sol System, the Defiant and the Yorktown, the queue for Ravenbright station, mostly consisting of allied warships in desperate need of refit is even greater. It is a sad and sorry situation, another shipyard is obviously desperately needed, yet with the expense of the cleanup around Earth herself and the need to reinforce Earths weak static defences as fast as possible, it looks like Naval repair and construction will be taking the backseat for quite some time. _

_Yet, despite all this gloom, there is some good news. Commodore Peters, who has commanded Thundersdawn station since its inception, reports that she expects at least two warships, one a Colonial refit, the other the prototype Britannica to launch within the week. _

_Will that be enough to ensure Earths security? Only time will tell" _

* * *

_"Behind me you can see the entrance to what was once Earths primary line of defence, Stargate Command, the first facility dedicated to defence of this Earth against a known alien race. _

_Now, it lays abandoned, empty, the Stargate that changed the Earth as we know it so much removed to another, classified location. The only movement below now is dedicated teams of engineers working hard not just to make the structure safe but to remove numerous booby-traps, bombs and explosives left behind by both sides. _

_So far, we know for definite of two devices which have accidentally been triggered in the last few hours alone, all that means is more damage to the mountain, certainly a larger repair bill, and more families in mourning" _

* * *

_"A city at calm at last. _

_Los Angeles, heavily effected by rioting and chaos in the days immediately following Disclosure is at peace, the Guard units which have been harshly enforcing Martial Law have stood down, the Police are once more in control. _

_But for how long? _

_This is a city, that like so many others, is drawn tight, ready to snap, full of anger, tension, fear, just waiting for somebody to lash out and start the chaos once more. _

_The Guard may not be controlling the city anymore, but they haven't left, not yet. The feeling on the streets certainly appears to be that they shouldn't, at least not for quite some time"_

* * *

_"Paris. Once the city of lights, once 'Gay Paree', now just a burnt out ruin, uninhabitable, shattered, gone, its heart torn out, destroyed by the unwilling actions of its citizens, the desperate attempts by the allies to retake the city and finally, the nuclear device that placed the final nail in the cities coffin. _

_Yet, and perhaps this is the worst, Paris is not alone, Los Vegas, Buenos Aires, Vladivostok, Exeter, all these cities are no more and London may join them yet if the British Government can not bring order to the city and get the rampaging fires under control. _

_Once, we looked to the stars and we saw hope even as the American and British governments and their allies attempted, perhaps as events have shown us, wisely attempted to hide the truth from us until we were ready. _

_Now, we look to the stars and see only fear, hatred and uncertainty. _

_The question we all must ask ourselves now is do we stride those stars as vengefully as the blood of our fallen demands? Or do we finally stand up and truly be counted? Do we go forth in hope? _

_That is not a question for me, for the press, for the military or for the government, that is a question whose answer can only be decided in the hearts and minds of every human being alive today"_


	54. Chapter 53

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty-Three**

"Is it over?"

"No," Peters replied, slowly shaking her head, "it's never over, it just goes away for a while"

"Time to breathe then, time to regroup" Enerina sighed, laying her head in her arms on the table.

"That's all we ever get," Peters shrugged, "and sometimes not even that. We had hoped that Disclosure we be far better then this…"

"Somebody knew, somebody was waiting," Egerist noted, "but I am afraid it is often that way"

"True," Peters grimaced, leaning back in her once comfy, now battered faux leather seat at the head of the briefing room table, her hands caressing a thick, strong cup of tea as her eyes gazed out the thick, heavy glass windows into space, "this has truly been a baptism of fire"

"We survived," Enerina shrugged slightly, "anything else is a matter for time"

"Perhaps," Peters grimaced, "I've had the report back by the way. Your hyperdrive cleaned up the sunnyside of fifty missiles, it's confirmed your CIWS batteries got the rest, congratulations. Unfortunately, it is a complete replacement job"

Enerina sighed, "Perhaps that is a good thing"

"How so?" Peters asked, not really paying attention as she gazed out the window.

"Well, it's about time I had some children don't you think?"

Commodore Peters tea dripped slowly down the armoured windows as she gazed at Enerina, stupefied.

* * *

"Too many jobs, not enough ships" O'Neill commented, darkly wry as he gazed across the status displays and assignment chits scattered across his desk. 

Admiral Thompson shrugged, placing the bug-detector he had been sweeping around the room on the floor, "welcome to the navy, it has always been that way and yet, we will make do. We always have, even if it gets tight at times"

O'Neill grimaced, "oh, those first few years at the mountain… lets just say I have an idea about what you're talking about"

"Perhaps," Thompson walked across to the table, placing his hands on his heavy marble surface, a gift from the Planetary Governor below, the first marble mined and worked on Alpha Centauri Prime, "but this is a step forward, the first permanent… well, semi-permanent formation of warships in space. For us, at least"

"Perhaps, but wasn't there a memo a few months ago stating that assignments for the group had already been decided?"

"There was," the Admiral sighed, "and events mean those assignments are now totally useless. We need to maintain our commitments in both allied spaces, increase pickets in both this and the home system as well as the nebula, arrange a few roving patrols, a few ships ready for swift deployment and still have enough ships to form a battlegroup. I don't think we're going to do it"

O'Neill nodded, seriously, "I know. Well, patrols and ships ready for swift deployment will have to count as the same thing. We may" he reached forward, tapping at several of the chits, "have to make that exclusively a patrol boat thing for a while"

"Patrol One is under strength," Thompson noted, "two birds in the body and fender shop. Patrol two is Colonial, patrol three is under construction and will be tied to Edonia, patrol four is not only under strength, but at your Alpha Site. Both PDF squadrons are understrength too"

"More squadrons would be useful,"

Thompson snorted, "'more' is always useful and we cant ask for everything. More craft are under order, but we wont get more squadrons until replacements have been issued and _Atlantis _has her two"

O'Neill raised one eyebrow swiftly, "following the colonial pattern of attaching two MTBs to the battlestar?"

"They've proven it works and as an effective force multiplier too," Thompson tapped at the chits, moving two red marked forms to the side, " _Britannica _will form the core of the group until _Atlantis _is launched. If we get enough ships together later, we may just split those two off to centre separate battlegroups but that's a while off yet"

"Okay, so fighters for the _Atlantis? _"

"177 and 767 squadrons are equipping with _Viper _VIIIs now. Those assignments are cast in stone" Thompson noted, shifting two red chits across and placing them on top of the form marked _Atlantis. _

"Destroyers…" Thompson reached across, gathering together a small pile of papers, most were green, but one was red, "we have eight available, but _Defiant _is down for repairs and for various reasons, its best we don't tie her to a battlegroup anyway"

The red chit was dropped to one side, " _Invincible _was told a while ago to prepare for battlegroup operations, I see no reason to change that assignment. She's a type one, very useful for hit and run attacks, rapid reinforcement duties and the like. If we could free a type II as well it would be nice"

"The group has a destroyer now," O'Neill grimaced, "gotta see what's left over from the other assignments first"

"Six destroyers left," Thompson noted, "at least two in the sol system has been demanded by the politicians"

"Youch,"

"Yes," Thompson nodded, "and I don't think we can actually do it"

The desk bleeped, and O'Neill groaned, pushing several papers to one side to reveal a black phone labelled simply 'Command', "I said we weren't to be disturbed"

O'Neill's eyebrows rose at the response and he said 'thank you' before placing the phone down, " _Sentinel _reports ready in all respects to launch"

Thompson grimaced, "had to be a Colonial bird first, still… its one more ship"

"Okay," O'Neill shook his head, "we need a bird for Edonia, one for sol, one for Alliance space, one for Vulcan Alliance space and one for Alpha Centauri. That's five, leaving one free and the _Defiant _once the repairs are done"

"Currently there are no destroyers in system," Thompson didn't check the papers, he didn't need to, "both _Stingray _and the _General Hammond _are in sol, we'll need to free one of those two up, either that or pull either _Indomitable _or _Interrogator _out of alliance space"

O'Neill grimaced, "Alliance space needs all the warships we can send, hot zone after all, we shouldn't be taking them away"

"Then, for the moment we leave both there," Thompson dropped two chits to a clear side of the table, "and pull…. _Stingray _out of Sol. Perhaps send _Devonshire _to reinforce the Vulcan's and Andorians. That leaves no destroyers spare"

"Okay, how many crusiers?"

"Eight, two red sheets and the _Jinaghu _over which we have no control" Thompson replied, " _Yorktown _is queued for repairs, _Endeavour _is coming towards the end of a repair/refit cycle but is headed back for Vulcan space as soon as she is cleared as safe"

"Any ships preassigned to the battlesgroup?"

" _Persephone, _currently they are in the sol system" Thompson noted.

"Keep that assignment," O'Neill suggested, "if they were informed, they've most likely gotten some simulator time in for fleet operations"

Thompson nodded, dropping a green sheet down on the battlegroup pile, "we've got two birds in Alliance space, one at Edonia, and one coming back from a long patrol"

"None operational in sol?"

"None," Thompson shrugged, "so _Gettysburg _gets the job. We can't actually do anything else unless China decides to cooperate, which they haven't yet"

" _Yorktown _is in the repair queue so will be red-sheeted for a while, no point giving her an assignment" O'Neill noted and Thompson quickly distributed the remaining assignment chits for the _Prometheus _class, noting as he did so that only one ship had actually been reassigned.

_"Ha'taks," _Thompson sweep up half the remaining sheets, "six operational but three need a full refit"

"And where do you suppose that's going to happen?" O'Neill asked annoyed.

"Slip Three, _Ravenbright _station and one at a time, there's no other way to do it. Until then, those three are best recalled to picket duties here and at sol where there will be other ships around to support them"

"That leaves three," O'Neill shook his head, "we may need to authorise a few extraction missions, we need more hulls"

"Not that easy," Thompson noted, "Maktenos we have a treaty with and we cannot afford to compromise that, Anubis we cant get to that easily and frankly, he has a mere handful of _Ha'taks´ _left, we do know of a few abandoned hulls including a full mothership but in each case retrieval would be unsafe in the extreme"

"Damn," O'Neill shrugged, "should have known it wouldn't be easy"

Thompson nodded, _"Dawn of Valour, Dawn of Justice _to assign. _Valiant Heart _is the most powerful _Ha'tak _we have so I suggest we leave her guarding the nebula. _Dawn of Justice _is in Vulcan space, which leaves _Dawn of Valour _to send to Alliance space"

"That," Thompson noted, "is it for the warships. The support craft are already assigned"

O'Neill shook his head, "I asked for this didn't I?"

The Admiral shook his head tiredly, "you did mouth off in front of the wrong people yes, all it told me was that you needed to exactly the problems we faced as far as ship assignments goes. The vessels we have are, for the most part, among the best, but we have so few and that is where the trouble comes in"

"Great," the General shook his head, "message received; now new construction assignments?"

" _Watcher _will complete shortly, but she is Colonial bound, we get _Overseer, Searcher _and _Seeker, _but obviously they will be pretty green. No other launches for a while"

"Great," O'Neill shook his head, wishing he had a few headache pills to hand, "well, a four ship battlegroup is of little use, I think we need to assign two birds there and the last… reinforce the sol picket. Its home after all"

Thompson nodded slowly, "agreed"


	55. Chapter 54

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty-Four**

_"Peace, but for how long? _

_That is the question on everyone's minds the world over as governments and aid agencies frantically race to repair the massive damage caused not just by the attack of the alien Cylons and Goa'uld but of the mass panic, rioting and looting triggered by the unauthorised disclosure. _

_For many, this is a time to breathe for just a moment before the rebuilding. For others, it is merely a time to assign blame. _

_Just this very morning, a lawsuit was served on the United States government for 'constitutional violations' regarding the secrecy surrounding the Stargate project. This is expected to just be the first of many; indeed, bookmakers are already taking bets on exactly how many lawsuits there will be" _

* * *

_"Gatwick Airport, normally a busy hub, plans would touch down here every few seconds during the busiest part of the day. Now, it is dead. This airport, like every other airfield, major and minor around London was seized by the Army early on during the Goa'uld invasion and it has yet to be released. The only flights coming into the city are either official government or military flights or those arranged by aid agencies. _

_Most of them are coming here, Heathrow is gone, the out of control fires of the city reached the airport late last night and found the massive tanks of aviation grade fuels first. The resulting river of burning fuels is merely adding to the misery of the emergency services" _

* * *

_"Fuel depots and stores across the country are being seized by elements of the army as the oil blockade by the Arab nations looks set to continue. The national reserve is being tapped heavily in order to keep essential services running, but no one knows how long this drastic action by the OPEC nations will continue, what is certain however is that something must give. _

_Whether it will be the OPEC nations or those of the starfaring nations is uncertain. This is an event we can only watch, wait, and pray does not erupt in more violence" _

* * *

_"Where are the Asgard? _

_That's the phrase on everyone's lips as the government releases its first official statement on the status of the Exeter Exclusion Zone since the arrival of the Goa'uld invasion force in England. _

_Once more the exclusion zone is being enlarged as the area effected by potentially fatal levels of radiation is seen the have increase and radiation advisories are being transmitted in an ever widening area. _

_The mess caused by the Cylon nuclear missile would be beyond our capability to clean up even under the best of conditions, and these are certainly not that. We need help, we asked for help, but none has arrived. _

_Are we being abandoned by our allies at out time of need?"_

* * *

_"General O'Neill, Commanding officer of Ravenbright station in the Alpha Centauri system today released a statement confirming the launch of the now refitted colonial destroyer Sentinel. This craft will now undergo proving trials in the sol and Alpha Centauri systems before being commissioned and accepted into the colonial navy, bringing the forces of that once powerful and magnificent force up to just two true warships. _

_This is a major boost to the Colonials who have been relying primarily on the protection of the Galactica and any Tau'ri forces in the area for over a year now" _

* * *

_"Stargate Command confirmed the reopening of the Stargate today, though it new and perhaps temporary home is being kept a closely guarded secret. This comes as engineering teams from all three services assume command of the mountain, it is believed though not yet confirmed that the President, supported by the Canadian Prime Minister has ever intention of reopening the mountain and refortifying it as Stargate Commands operational centre. _

_There is also little doubt, judging by the number of well known and indeed, even famous architects who are even now joining the military engineers entering the facility, that if this base is reopened, it will more then likely have been heavily redesigned to better fit its new primary role. _

_Of course, the engineers first have to establish if the structure of the facility, in particular, the walls cut directly into the rock, are still intact. If they aren't, then all bets and all plans will certainly be off" _

* * *

_"Mr Pierce, an example of what a reporter truly should be or the most evil despicable man since Adolph Hitler? _

_Opinions are certainly divided on this; a lot of people are saying that as a reporter Pierce was only doing his job, his duty when he unveiled the secret of the Stargate Project to the Earth. There is certainly a grain of truth in that, but Mr Pierces actions have only lent fuel to the arguments of those who see the press as being truly out of control. _

_Did he truly consider the implications of his actions? _

_It is a knee-jerk reaction to say he didn't, but that doesn't make it any less possible, indeed, people have been saying for years that as a profession, we reporters have a distinct tendency not to consider the implications, the results of our actions, a reputation the paparazzi is mostly responsible for. Truth is we don't know the thought processes being Pierces actions and perhaps we will never know though he himself is merely, perhaps forebodingly listed as 'missing', his body has yet to be found. _

_It is perhaps most telling that those reporters who were once closest to the now renegade reporter are all unanimous on two points. One, that towards the end he was a bitterly driven man, and two, he had an agenda of his own. _

_Yet, it is still not clear why this once vaunted and celebrated reporter was at the heart of a massive attack on the Cheyenne mountain complex. Had the chaos, mayhem and rioting he caused triggered a descent into madness? Was he under some alien influence? Or was something else going on? _

_Truth be told, only Mr Pierce knows and he isn't telling"_


	56. Chapter 55

**Disclosure  
by Chaoseternus**

The Truth Is Out At Last, Are You Ready For It?

**Fifty-Five**

_"Negotiations commenced today with the fledgling People's Liberation Army, Space formed by China in an attempt to bring the force, which so far has just one cruiser built using American designs, into the co-operation treaty which governs both the Royal Space Service and Stargate Command and their operations. _

_Reports suggest that at this time, the Chinese may be listening but their attitude is hostile. Whether this is a reaction to the initial secrecy by the Americans regarding the Stargate or to the refusal by the Royal Space Service to share technologies with a nation not a part of the treaty is unknown. _

_It is rumoured however that the Chinese government has demanded reparations from the Americans for bringing the Earth into an interstellar war without consulting the other nations of the Earth. _

_If true, then this is likely to be a major sticking point as the Americans will, perhaps rightly, claim they had no way of knowing the consequences of reopening the Stargate. Nor will the three nations of Stargate Command be quick to pay such reparations even if forced, America is reeling not just from the aftershocks of massive civil unrest within her cities, but the effects of a major attack upon the nations defences, the mass deployment of troops abroad to deal with the Goa'uld threats in France, Africa and England, troops which have yet to be retrieved and are known to have taken substantial casualties, but also with the continuing cost of the Stargate Program. _

_America is the strongest supporter of Stargate Command, paying nearly forty billion dollars a year towards Earth's defences, this is the largest contribution of any nation, tripling that of the British who are the next largest contributors to our defence" _

* * *

_"Japan confirmed its intention to join the combined space defence force, tentatively titled the Tau'ri Star Service when that force is inaugurated with the merging of the Royal Space Service and Stargate Command sometime early in the new year. _

_Controversy has already risen regarding the name of the service however, Stargate Command pushed for this name primarily because Tau'ri is what most of the other nations know us by, but the Royal Space Service has been quick to point out that Tau'ri is a name primarily used by the Goa'uld who are enemies of Earth. _

_The Royal Space Service has been pushing for Earthforce, a name that perhaps speaks more of us then what the other races see us as" _

* * *

_"Explosions have today rocked the city of London as army engineers demolish buildings in the path of the fire, intending to create a hasty firebreak to slow the path of the fire, perhaps, if they are lucky, to contain its spread. _

_Whether this desperate plan will work is unknown, fires on the sheer scale enveloping the city are rare, techniques for fighting them mostly untested theory. Indeed, the last time such fires occurred was the Second World War and fire fighting techniques have changed greatly since then _

_The only true blessing the firefighters have is that this is England, the buildings, even the houses are all brick and brick will not burn. _

_In America, many of these buildings, indeed, most of the homes, would have been wood, and as such, would have just been more fuel for the fire" _

* * *

_"The St Athan Memorial, the site which triggered our first real hint that something was going on, that perhaps we had come under attack from space, has today been reopened. _

_Moved by volunteers, mostly walking wounded military personnel, this monument stands as mute testimony to those who have lost their lives defending our planet from attack. _

_It is a large monument, equal in size to that of the cenotaph in London, but not large enough. Every available inch has already been covered with the names of the fallen, not just from Britain, but from every nation that has fought as a part of our space services since the reopening of the Stargate. _

_That mute testimony to loss is perhaps not the most moving part of the memorial, nor is the determined effort by those who should still be under Doctors orders to move it into full view, no, the most moving, most mute testimony is the list of complete ships, complete units lost in our defence. That list, which includes over thirty complete stargate teams, covers the base of the monument." _

* * *

_"We ring in 2013 with confirmation from the Royal Space Service of a mass launch of new and refitted warships. Today, four minor warships of the MTB and MGB classes were relaunched after major repairs, as well as four Sentinel class vessels, refits of Colonial Military hulls and the RSS Britannica, first of the new Battlecruiser class, is expected to launch tomorrow, an auspicious beginning perhaps to a new year that is already darkened, tainted by the events of the previous year. _

_London still burns, Exeter literally glows in the dark, France is occupied, allied forces still control a significant area of Africa, almost every city in the western world and beyond is severely damaged by fighting, rioting and looting, repairs which are going to cost untold billions to repair and the lost of human life is incalculable. _

_There is no question that we have been dealt a major blow, there is no question that many people are very angry about this, however there are far too many who are angry not at the cylons who launched the nukes or the Goa'uld who actions caused so much chaos, death and destruction but at the government, and at our valiant but beleaguered defenders, whom are being, indeed, are be sued for everything from incompetence to collaboration" _

* * *

**Continued in 12: Battlegroup**


End file.
